-1Amas Veritas

Warning: This story contains slash

Chapter 1: Send My Condolences

It was 2 months after the death of Dumbledore and things had settled into their new routines, Orders were chosen and new leaders on both sides had emerged. Harry Potter was sitting on the doorstep of Number 4 Privet Drive reading an article in the Daily Prophet about Desmond Blake, the now second in command of Voldemorts minions. The picture on the front page showed the Irishman in his Death Eater Cloak, glowering at the camera.

The article also mentioned that the photographer who took this picture was missing and presumed dead. Funeral times were listed on Page D7.

Today was July 31 and Harry was finally seventeen years old, as of tonight the deep magic that had protected him at the Dursleys house was gone. Or at least that is what his God Mother had told him.

Persephone visited every Saturday night and they had tea with the Dursleys before going for a walk to the park. Harry didn't like the tea time until Persephone informed him that she only made everyone do it to make the Dursleys mad. Harry always loved it after that comment.

He sat waiting on the stoop, his now, long lean body stretched along the pavement, looking across the street for any signs of his God Mother. She had said she would be coming to get him at 6:00 o'clock that very evening, but there was no sign of anyone yet.

The door behind him opened and Harry briefly saw his trunk and Hedwigs cage being thrown out of the door before he was knocked backward on the pavement. Readjusting his glasses Harry looked up to see Uncle Vernon pushing the remainder of Harry's things out of the door and he too, glancing at the street.

"Well, where is that woman?" Aunt Petunia asked from somewhere behind her bulk of a husband. Aunt Petunia never liked Persephone, but that was perhaps because Uncle Vernon did.

"I don't know, she should be here soon." Harry told them.

"Not soon enough. I want her to pick you up and leave without ever having to come inside my house."

"Oh, Petunia dear, it would be downright rude if we didn't invite her in for a cup of tea at least." Replied Uncle Vernon pleasantly, the sweetness in his voice made Harry gag.

The couple retreated, arguing into the house, leaving Harry and his cousin on the porch. Harry pulled himself off the ground and dusted off his clothes, looking once more towards the street. Dudley cleared his throat,

"Hey Harry?"

"Yea?" He replied, annoyed at anything Dudley ever asked him.

"I was looking through some of your things the other night when you were out with Persephone and-"

"You were what?"

"That's not the point but I wanted to tell you, before you leave, that, I saw one of your History books and I thumbed through it for a few minutes." Harry scoffed at the thought of Dudley reading a book but let him continue uninterrupted. "And I came to this part about that one guy Vould? Voolde?" he tried.

"Voldemort?" Harry supplied.

"Right, and I read about what it was like for your people during his power and what…" he paused, "….and what you did to him." Harry was taken aback, of all the things he expected to hear from his cousin, this was the last. Dudley went on, "I just wanted to say that, I'm sorry about your parents and for calling you a coward all those times." Dudley flinched as if Harry was going to hex him for making an apology. But Harry didn't know what to say because he was far too shocked.

"Wow, I…um, wow Dudley…I never…, wow." was all that Harry could squeeze out before he heard a crack behind him, spinning around and pulling his wand, he relaxed at the sight of The Order Leader, who smiled warmly at him.

"Happy Birthday!" she said, walking towards him and extending her arms for their embrace. Persephone Parker was still just as lovely as she ever was, although her dark hair and light complexion were much more lackluster and dull than before Dumbledore had died. She still had the body of a trained warrior with long lean muscles that retained their femininity. Her bright blue eyes were shining even in the darkness when she wrapped her arms around her God Son, smiling wide.

Looking at the luggage on the porch and at Dudley, Persephone whispered to Harry, "I'll give you a moment for your goodbyes before we get on our way alright?" She then walked towards the trunk and cage, to be greeted by an overzealous Vernon at the front door. "Ms. Parker! So lovely to see you again." He said boisterously while Petunia looked on, scowling.

Harry laughed and looked towards Dudley who shrugged, "I got you a sort of Birthday, sort of Going Away present. It's nothing really, just something I know you have always wanted to try." Harry took the badly wrapped package and smiled at his cousin before Persephone was back at his side, holding his now, shrunken items in her pants pocket.

"Ready to go? Said your goodbyes to everyone?"

Harry nodded and looked at Dudley, "Everyone that matters." He took one last look at his feuding Aunt and Uncle before he and his God Mother turned and apparated into thin air.

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Desmond Blake sat on the floor in front of his master in their cozy bedroom by the fire place, Desmond stroked Voldemorts leg in a seductive manner. The Dark Lord was too irritated with him to respond to the Irishmans touch.

Voldemort flipped through the Daily Prophet, a scowl upon his pale white face as he read the words in the paper about his beloved Desmond.

"How could you get your face in the paper you idiot!" He yelled at the handsome man on the floor as he stood up and threw the paper towards his feet. Desmond didn't flinch, he just stared at his master with his vibrant emerald eyes and continued stroking his leg, softly. Voldemort sighed and sat back down in the chair, his hand reached out for Desmonds long, black hair, twirling a tendril around his finger he said, "You know I cant stay that mad at you, and atleast you did end up killing him." Desmond smiled and let his cheek fall into his masters hand while his own hand sneaked up Voldemorts thigh. The Dark Lord moaned and let his head drop as Desmond inched closer and closer. Out of the corner of his eye, Voldemort glimpsed the date on the newspaper, July 31.

"Stop." He ordered, Desmond looked disappointed. Voldemort nodded towards the paper, Desmond smiled.

"July 31 my Lord." He said wickedly while Voldemort grinned ear to ear and placed his hands behind his head.

"I think tonight we give Harry's family a little surprise birthday party. But first, get to it Desmond, I cant be all tense before a murder now can I?"

Desmond smiled and leaned his head down…

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Number 12 Grimmauld Place was cleaner and much more well kept than it had ever been. Sirius was now living in it once more and had transformed the entire house so much that it was hardly recognizable, no one associated it with dreariness and sadness anymore but happiness and light. There was no longer dust and dirt everywhere one stepped, the floors sparkled and light radiated from every brilliant chandelier.

The brightness could be seen from the windows as Harry and Persephone walked up the cobblestone path to the beautifully hand carved wood door. When they knocked, Harry was surprised to hear that there weren't any muffled screams from Mrs. Black inside and Persephone smiled mischievously to herself.

"What?" Harry asked her. She shook her head, "Nothing." The door suddenly swung open and even more brilliant light flooded the dreary street of Grimmauld Place as Harry was pulled inside by numerous witches and wizards all shouting Birthday wishes to him. The young man turned his head and beamed at Persephone, who mouthed "Surprise!" Before he couldn't see her anymore.

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Sirius Black sat on the bed in the re-done master bedroom upstairs with his head in his hands, his long black hair spilling over his fingers as he breathed in a big sigh of relief. They were finally here. Home and safe. He stood up and walked to the mirror in the corner of the room, leaning on the dresser in front of it staring into his reflection silently, disappointed with what he saw. His long dark hair, dark-olive complexion, and shining deep-blue eyes were dull and lifeless, very similar to after he has finally escaped from prison. Even though he and Persephone had patched things up for the most part, (at least in the sense that she was talking to him again and he wasn't afraid of eating at the same time she was…well not as much) she had not forgiven him fully.

He wanted nothing more than to run down and throw his arms around her and Harry and take his little family away somewhere where they would be safe. But he knew that those two were central parts of the entire war and he hated that he could do nothing to fix it. And somewhere inside of him he despised that he wasn't more of a central role as well.

He also couldn't go down there because Harry was still under the impression that Sirius was dead. Which of course put a bit of a damper on the whole situation.

Sirius heard Persephone say to the rest of the people that she was going upstairs to get something for Harry's birthday. Her graceful feet made no sounds on the old rickety stairs and before he knew it she was walking through the door of his bedroom.

He grinned, "Am I the present?"

She scoffed, "You know if you let that head of yours get any bigger you wont be able to get through the door, let alone go on any more missions."

"Ouch. Okay, how are we going to do this?" he paused and shrugged his wide shoulders, "I mean, I cant just walk down there and surprise him out of the blue."

"Ideally, you could." Persephone replied as she sat on the small chair that Sirius had placed next to a bureau just for her.

Even though she refused to live with him he had moved her things into the master suite in hopes that one day she would change her mind. On the table that sat next to her, Persephone's brushes, perfumes, and bits of jewelry rested with dust covering them. She sighed, "Sirius, it's not time. I cant forgive you yet, you might as well put these things away."

He shook his head, "Never. When you move back in, you can put them wherever you like." She was tired of fighting with him so instead of replying, she stood from the chair and signaled for Sirius to follow her.

"We might as well just do it. There is no way to make this better or easier to understand for him." Persephone said in a defeated sort of voice as she rose from the chair and left the bedroom, Sirius in tow.

They walked down the stairs in silence and when they reached the landing, they could hear the boisterous and happy voices of the partygoers coming from inside the kitchen. Sirius looked to Persephone and as he passed her, he grabbed and squeezed her hand. She squeezed back.

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When Harry entered the kitchen he was almost knocked over by a squealing redhead whom he quickly grabbed and kissed softly on the lips. "How are you Gin?" He asked. She smiled, "Better now that you're here." Ginny grinned and took his hand, leading him through the kitchen. Harry shook hands and was hugged by so many people that he finally felt after all this time with the Dursleys, that now he was at home with family.

Harry was beaming after he had circled the kitchen, giving strong hugs to Lupin and Tonks, the Weasley twins and Mad-Eye Moody, who surprisingly was the one who pulled Harry to him and near knocked the air from his lungs. Persephone came in and everyone immediately turned their heads to look at her, a silence went out over the kitchen. She smiled,

"Sorry to break up the party but Harry, can I talk to you for a moment outside?" He reluctantly let go of Ginny's hand and walked out the door. The talk soon began again as he and Persephone went down the hallway. As they walked, Persephone turned to him and said, "There is no easy way to break this to you so we have decided just to do it."

They had reached the door to the sitting room, Harry was confused. "Who's we?"

She braced herself and replied "Us.", and with that, she opened to door to Sirius sitting on a beautiful luxurious couch staring into the roaring fireplace. Harry blinked hard, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Sirius turned to look at him and motioned for him to come and sit down. Harry took a step into the room and glanced at Persephone. She made to say something but before she could there was a mad rapping at the front door and someone yelling on the outside.

Both Persephone and Sirius jumped up and ran to the door, opening it, Mundungus fell on the floor of the foyer, panting for air. "Sirius!" He wheezed before he could stand. "They are at the house! Harry's family is being attacked!" She sprang into action.

"Dung, go to the kitchen and rally the Order, meet me at Privet Drive as soon as you can. You two," she said, motioning to Sirius and Harry, "Follow me." There was no time to argue and no time to talk about where his supposedly dead God Father had been that Harry grabbed his wand and rushed out the door.

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Voldemort circled around the young boy, he was crying, how he hated that. He had died enough times to know it wasn't that big of a deal but he knew the kid wouldn't stop so he tried not to think about it. Dudley whimpered in between sobs, his hands clutching at his dead father. Voldemort laughed his cold menacing laugh and spoke to him.

"So, Mr. Dursley. I have the strangest feeling of deja vou. Except your Aunt didn't cry this much when I ended her miserable little life, no where near as much as your Mother sobbed." Dudley didn't respond for fear he might make this frightening man kill him too. The Irishman holding his wand on him had already killed his mother in the other room. Voldemort grinned,

"Too bad Harry turned out so much better than you. God Damned coward that you are. The lump that you are is nothing compared to that boy, unfortunately." He smiled his sadistic grin, and glanced at Desmond. "Now Mr. Dursley," he continued, taking his eyes off of his new lover, " I could torture you," he gave a small whimper, "But I think I shall use you as leverage for an Order Member, a specific one actually. You can keep your pathetic little life for a trade of one of theirs. Is that not merciful of me?" he stopped this berating when Lucius Malfoy came running inside.

"Master, Parker will be on her shortly. We just saw an Order Member run off, they should be here soon."

Without taking his eyes off of the shivering Dudley Dursley he replied, "No she wont, that would be stupid of her. She knows I would expect her to do it. Give it 20 minutes, then they will start coming."

"I think you underestimate her." Replied Malfoy. Voldemort turned with indignation towards this cretin,

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" he roared.

Malfoy shrugged, "Not all I wanted to."

"You insolent little-!" But before he could finish, Malfoy gave him a cutesy smile and wave, before turning back into Nymphadora Tonks.

"See, told ya so. By the way, we have the house surrounded, so come on out. 'Seph wants to talk to you." she said giving one more little wave before popping out of the house.

"Grab the child. Let's get the hell out of here." Voldemort said curtly as they walked to the door.

Looking out the glass sides of the door, Voldemort saw no one but he knew better than to think that they were alone. He had Desmond take the hysterical teenager out in front of him first, holding his wand pressed against the kids throat to indicate he was a hostage. When the two of them had cleared Voldemort heard Desmond gasp,

"Boss, you might want to come and take a look at this."

Voldemort threw open the door in an attempt to look menacing but was stopped in his tracks by what he saw. Persephone stood in the middle of the street and on their knees in front of her were his 4 guardians. Ropes tied their hands behind their backs and heavy black hoods covered their faces so that they were blind. Their wands lay 10 feet in front of them and Voldemort would have bet his manor that they had been gagged. From left to right he could tell who was who by their forms, Bellatrix was on the far left, Amycus next to her, Malfoy next to him, and finally Dolohov on the right. Behind them stood the most menacing thing of all.

Persephone had positioned 4 of her top followers behind his with wands at the back of their heads, ready to kill if necessary, much like Muggle firing squads he had heard about. Sirius Black guarded Bellatrix, Tonks covered Amycus, Lupin held his wand on Malfoy and Moody was on top of Dolohov. Voldemort was nervous, 4 people who would not hesitate to kill his best people in a flash.

Persephone spoke, "You know Tom, I am a little hurt by tonights events. I would of thought you gave me more credit than that." She grinned.

"You know," Voldemort said in reply, "Your old Dumbledore would never have supported this tactic."

"All the better he's not here isn't it? He taught me to fight and you killed him before that whole 'Fighting Fair' thing came in. Too bad for you." She paused and looked into his red eyes, smiling, "Now Tom, give us the boy before you do something stupid."

Voldemort hesitated, weighing his chances. He could kill the kid and just leave, it was probably better in the long run. Persephone wouldn't kill all of his people, or would she?

"Tom, do you really want, a sexual partner, a wealthy benefactor, a torturer and an executioner to die? I really think you are getting the better deal in this situation."

"I think you're bluffing, I actually have the upper hand here. See there are only 5 of you with powers, while there are six of me. Desmond, kill the boy."

"Avada Kedavra!" the Irishman shouted as the green flash came from his wand, soon he was only holding a limp corpse, he let the boy fall to the ground.

Hiding in the bushes with the rest of the Orders fighters, Harry shivered and felt like he was going to be sick. She may have been terrible, but she was the only true family he had.

"Big mistake Tom, kill them!" She shouted, flashes of light shone through the air. Voldemort was too fast, he sent out a shield spell that Persephone quickly fought. With her power battling his the shield only protected the two people in the center of the line. At his Master command, Amycus quickly apparated away as did Malfoy. Lupin and Tonks were knocked to their feet, and made their way back to behind Persephone. Attempting to help Moody and Sirius, who had already killed their marks, in fighting off the shield charm.

When they managed to throw him off, Voldemort looked at Bellatrix and Dolohov, both lying on the ground dead. He scowled and grabbed a shocked Desmond before they both apparated away. Persephone sighed, "Shit."

Harry burst from the bushes and ran towards the house, surely looking inside for Dudley and Vernon. While he was inside Persephone conjured ink, quill, parchment and even a writing desk, quickly scrawling out a note that she placed on top of Bellatrix's chest. She then sent Dolohov's and Bellatrix's bodies off with a flick of her wand.

Harry ran from the house, "They're dead. All of them are dead." Tonks went forward and threw her arms around him in an attempt to comfort the poor boy.

Persephone sent one last spell around to every house, a memory charm, before organizing everyone to leave. As her and Sirius waited for their turn, he asked, "What did the notes say?"

She smiled. "I sent Voldemort my condolences."

To Be Continued…..

Note: Amas Veritas translates to "In Darkness, Light" its also from the film, Practical Magic with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock.

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