Chapter 21

Cassius had taken some steps back and was looking ahead, willing it all to be over already.

'I will make my father proud.' He thought to himself.

His father would want him to stand straight and look presentable for the Dark Lord.

Cassius did just run through a maze to beat Harry to the Cup, so he was sure he would be given a pass.

The Dark Lord had put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a wand. He caressed it gently, clearly enjoying the feel of it. He pointed it at the Man, who's hood had fallen off and revealed a rat-like face.

With a flick of the wand, the Man was picked up into the air by invisible strings, and thrown against the headstone where Harry was tied. The Dark Lord let out a cold mirthless laugh.

"My Lord…" The Man choked, "My Lord… you promised… you did promise…"

"Hold out your arm," The Dark Lord's tone was lazy.

"Oh Master… thank you, Master…"

Cassius's skin crawled from the way this Man grovelled.

"The other arm, Wormtail."

'Wormtail? What an odd name.' Cassius thought to himself.

"Master, please… please…" Wormtail whimpered.

The Dark Lord bent down and pulled out Wormtail's left arm; forcing the sleeve of Wormtail's robes up past his elbow, Cassius recognized the Dark Mark on his arm.

"It is back," The Dark Lord said after examining the tattoo, "they will have noticed it… and now, we shall see… now we shall know…"

Cassius remained silent and unmoving, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to himself.

"How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it?" The Dark Lord whispered, his strange red eyes gleaming up to the stars. "And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?"

The Dark Lord began to pace before Harry and Wormtail, his eyes sweeping the graveyard all the while. After a minute or so had passed, he looked down at Harry; a cruel smile twisting on his face.

"You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father," The Dark Lord hissed softly. "A Muggle and a fool… very like your dear mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child… and I killed my father, and see how useful he has proved himself, in death…"

Cassius noticed the large snake circling in the grass.

"You see that house upon the hillside, Potter? My father lived there. My mother, a witch who lived here in this village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was… He didn't like magic, my father…

"He left her and returned to his Muggle parents before I was even born, Potter, and she died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a Muggle orphanage… but I vowed to find him… I revenged myself upon him, that fool who gave me his… Tom Riddle…"

The Dark Lord kept up his pacing, not giving Cassius a second glance; which he was grateful for.

'The Dark Lord's father was a muggle? Then wouldn't that make him a half-blood?' Cassius asked himself.

"Listen to me, reliving family history…" The Dark Lord's voice got even more quiet, "why, I am growing quite sentimental… But look, Harry! My true family returns…"

The air was filled with swishing cloaks as the Death Eaters Apparate to the Dark Lord.

The Dark Lord grew silent, waiting for their reactions.

Then to Cassius's disgust, one of the Death Eaters fell to his knees, crawled toward Voldemort, and kissed the hem of his black robes.

"Master… Master…" The hooded murmured.

'Is this really what Father wants?' Cassius asked himself.

The Death Eaters followed behind the man; each of them approaching the Dark Lord on his knees and kissing the hem of his robes. When they backed away and stood up, the Death Eaters formed a silent circle; enclosing Harry, the Dark Lord, Cassius, and Wormtail, who was twitching and sobbing on the ground.

Cassius noticed that gaps had been left in the circle.

"Welcome, Death Eaters," The Dark Lord's voice was quiet, but it was powerful. "Thirteen years… thirteen years since last we met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday.. We are still united under the Dark Mark, then! Or are we?"

The Dark Lord put back his face and sniffed, his slit-like nostrils widening.

'I don't want to live like this.' Cassius thought to himself, silently comparing the Dark Lord to a dog.


At the age of eight years old, Cassius knew that all he wanted to be was just like his father.

Othello was strong, calm, and friendly when he needed to be. He had a close circle of friends.


"I smell guilt," The Dark Lord said, "there is a stench of guilt upon the air."

A shiver ran around the circle.

"I see you all, whole and healthy, with your powers intact - such prompt appearances! - and I ask myself… why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?"

No one spoke. The only one to move was Wormtail who was still sobbing over his bleeding arm.


When Cassius's last year at Hogwarts started, he knew he still wanted to be like his father.

In charge of his life.


"And I answer myself," whispered the Dark Lord, "they must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies, and they pleaded innocence, and ignorance, and bewitchment…

"And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? They, who knew the steps I took long ago to guard myself against mortal death? They, who had seen proofs of the immensity of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living?

"And I answer myself, perhaps they believed a still greater power could exist, one that could vanquish even Lord Voldemort… perhaps they now pay allegiance to another… perhaps that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles, Albus Dumbledore?"

At the mention of Dumbledore, the members of the circle moved. Muttering and shaking their heads in disagreement. The Dark Lord ignored them.

"It is a disappointment to me… I confess myself disappointed."

One the men flung himself forward suddenly, breaking the circle.

"Master!" The man shrieked, "Master, forgive me! Forgive us all!"

The Dark Lord laughed before raising his wand.

"Crucio!"

The Death Eater on the ground writhed and shrieked in pain.


"He didn't put his name in the Goblet."

Cassius gave a grunt in disbelief.

He knew that Harry didn't put his name in the Goblet, but a part of him couldn't help but think that Harry had figured it out.

His grunt was also for Cassie. He never expected her to talk to him.

"I really do hope you win the Tournament. Slytherin could use some good light on it." Cassie said.

Cassius was too dumbfounded to say anything back.

When he looked at her, with her dark grey eyes, and her lips that he wanted to kiss so badly. He just didn't know what to say.

"I'm the only Gryffindor rooting for you, Warrington."

He had to walk away, he just wasn't sure what to say in response.


"Get up Avery." The Dark Lord's voice never seemed to change in volume. "Stand up. You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive. I do not forget. Thirteen long years… I want thirteen years' repayment before I forgive you. Wormtail here has paid some of his debt already, have you not, Wormtail?"

Wormtail continued to sob on the ground.

"You returned to me, not out of loyalty, but out of fear of your old friends. You deserve this pain, Wormtail. You know that, don't you?"

Cassius stared between two Death Eaters, not wanting to be there anymore.

"Yes, Master," Wormtail moaned. "Please, Master… Please…"

"Yet you helped return me to my body." The Dark Lord's voice was cool. "Worthless and traitorous as you are, you helped me… and Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers…"


"Do you really believe that Dumbledore would allow a student under the age of seventeen into the tournament, after he specified that no one else was to enter?" Cassie's voice was monotone when she spoke to Cedric Diggory.

Diggory walked away, shaking his head.

"I do." Cassius was surprised that he spoke up.

Weasley and Cassie turned around to look at him in surprise.

"Of course you do. Slytherin hasn't been treated the best since Harry started here." Cassie nodded.

'You're a strange one.' Cassius thought to himself as he stared at her.

"You're Cassie Zwart, Malfoy's cousin." He wanted her to know that he knew her name.

"I am. Sirius Black is also my father, who is still on the run." Cassie nodded.

Cassius was honestly surprised by that response, he let out a laugh.

"You're a quick one." He said to Cassie.


The Dark Lord raised his wand again and whirtled it through the air. A streak of molten silver hung in the wand's wake, giving off a shine. Momentarily shapeless, it writhed and then formed itself onto a gleaming replica of a human hand, bright as moonlight, which soared downward and fixed itself upon Wormtail's bleeding wrist.

Wormtail's sobbing stopped. His breathing was still harsh and ragged, but he was clearly no longer in pain. The silver hand, attached seamlessly to his arm, as though he were wearing a glove. Wormtail flexed the shining fingers, then, trembling, picked up a small twig on the ground and crushed it into powder.

"My Lord," Wormtail whispered. "Master… it is beautiful… thank you… thank you…"

He scrambled forward on his knees and kissed the hem of the Dark Lord's robes.

"May your loyalty never waver again, Wormtail."

Cassius could hear the warning in his voice.

"No, My Lord… never, My Lord…"

Wormtail stood up and took his place in the circle, staring at his new hand.

The Dark Lord approached the man to Wormtail's right.

"Lucius, my slippery friend," he whispered. "I am told that you have not renounced the old ways though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe? Yet, you never tried to find me, Lucius… Your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun, I daresay… but might not your energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master?"


"Right! Congratulations on not dying yesterday. And for getting your egg." Cassie smiled up at Cassius.

"Thank you. I really didn't want to believe it was dragons for our first task." Cassius admitted with a laugh.

"Me too. Harry is in over his head." Cassie shook her head.

She had chosen to be as blonde as Malfoy this year, and it suited her.

Cassius had wanted to reach out and touch it that day, but knew it would have been weird and out of place for him.


"My Lord, I was constantly on the alert," Lucius Malfoy's voice came swiftly from beneath his hood. "Had there been any sign from you, any whisper of your whereabouts, I would have been at your side immediately, nothing could have prevented me -"

"And yet you ran away from my Mark, when a faithful Death Eater sent it into the sky last summer." The Dark Lord said lazily, making Malfoy stop talking. "Yes, I know all about that, Lucius… You have disappointed me… I expect more faithful service in the future."

"Of course, My Lord, of course… You are merciful, thank you…"

The Dark Lord moved on, and stopped at a space big enough for two people - that separated Malfoy and the next Death Eater.

"The Lestranges should stand here," The Dark Lord said quietly. "But they are entombed in Azkaban. They were faithful. They went to Azkaban rather than renounce me… When Azkaban is broken open, the Lestranges will be honored beyond their dreams. The dementors will join us… they are our natural allies… we will recall the banished giants… I shall have all my devoted servants returned to me, and an army of creatures whom all fear…"


When Cassius wanted to ask Cassie to the Yule Ball, he had wanted her to immediately say yes and leap for joy. But he knew better. He knew she was going to ask why.

And he was right.

"Cassie, will you go to the ball with me?" He asked.

Cassie blinked at him.

"Are you serious?" She asked.

Cassius gave a sigh and nodded.

"I'm serious."

Cassie blinked again.

"Why? Why me and not someone who you actually want to go with?"

He wished he had told her that he did want to go to the ball with her. There was no one else he wanted to take.


The Dark Lord walked on, passing some of the Death Eaters in silence.

"Macnair… destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry of Magic now, Wormtail tells me? You shall have better victims than that soon, Macnair. Lord Voldemort will provide…"

"Thank you, Master… thank you," Macnair murmured.

"And here," - the Dark Lord paused in front of the two largest figures - "we have Crabbe… you will do better this time, will you not, Crabbe? And you, Goyle?"

Both figures bowed clumsily, muttering dully.

"Yes, Master…"

"We will, Master…"

"The same goes for you, Nort," The Dark Lord quietly walked past a stooped figure in Mr. Goyle's shadow.

"My Lord, I prostrate myself before you, I am your most faithful -"

"That will do," The Dark Lord didn't care.


' "The Dark Lord can also use a Seer on his side. I also want to get closer to you. Maybe I can convince you to join me.' " Cassius felt guilty now that he realized just who convinced the other to join them.

"Will this be more of a statement then?" Cassie asked.

"Partially, yes," he nodded, not wanting to say that at all.

"What else is it?" Cassie asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"Partially I want to take you to learn more about you." Cassius allowed himself to admit it.

He was glad he did. Her eyes widened and she looked genuinely surprised.

"You have made an effort to talk to me from the beginning -"


Oof...

Shout out to yochan for following this story!

Shout out to Arianita05 for adding the first two Treasured books to your favorite and following list! And for adding me to your favorite and following list!

Shout out to Pamela Hutchins for leaving a review!

Pamela Hutchins: I'm struggling so hard. I have all these feelings and my fiancé is gone for work so I'm unable to just vent and cry to him and then continue on my writing LOL!