AN: So the lack of reviews last chapter really quelled my desire to finish this story. With only one more day until I leave for Europe, I decided to post another chapter while I'm scrabbling to compress huge boring chapters into a few small ones so this beast will be finished eventually. Preferably before college starts.

Harry Potter and the Snake's Veil

Chapter 11 Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee

A few days after the attack, a docile Harry was led from his room by a still fuming Wormtail. The cool silver hand clutched the broken arm, reinstating who was in control.

The rat took Harry to a new room; this one was lined with a full length mirror and bright lights. Wormtail shoved Harry in the center chair. As the binds laced around Harry's legs, arms, and waist, Voldemort entered the room.

"Harry, we see each other again." Harry remained silent, glaring at the Dark Lord. "Not still mad at me, are you my son?"

"I am not your son."

"Back to that old argument, are we Potter?" He approached the bound teen, placing a hand on each armrest. "I never noticed it until now," he murmured, analyzing Harry in the harsh light, "but you've aged a lot since you joined me." He walked away, still talking to the teen, "It must've been when you were doing all of that training with them. What was it, two years of study? I'm not an expert myself of time of other dimensions…" When Harry still did not respond, Voldemort continued, "Maybe I should send you back for another two years, maybe then you wouldn't be so weak."

He waved his hand and a strange piece of machinery lowered from the ceiling. "Now, while you may not care Potter, I'm sure my son would appreciate his early Christmas present, should you ever let him come out again. Hopefully the snake will take you Potter and not my heir, kill two birds with one stone, eh?"

Harry snorted. "I am not a Death Eater…"

"Well, you're no Saint Potter either, you're a murderer Potter." He paused, as Harry looked away, lost for words. Voldemort went back to Harry gripping his chin and forcing Harry to look into the red eyes. "No matter what you do from this point Potter, you will never forget what you have done. You are dead to this wizarding world and you are dead to your friends. You never forget the people you kill."

Harry exhaled deeply before spitting into the serpent's face.

Voldemort's lips curled as he whipped his wand out, vanished not only the spit on his face, but placed a new band around Harry's head keeping it in place. "Perhaps you only look older; clearly your mind hasn't caught up." Voldemort pulled off Harry glasses and crushed them in his hand. "You shall not need these anymore." The strange machine was now directly on top of Harry's face. Two mechanical hands came down forcing Harry's eyelids back off the actual eyes.

Harry struggled against the bonds. Voldemort had appeared over him again, two vials in his hands.

"Happy Christmas, my son," he said pouring both contents into Harry's emerald orbs.

Harry cried out in pain as the acidic liquid coated his eyes in thick goo. It sizzled and burned, eating his eyes.

The last thing he remembered before blacking out was hearing Voldemort say, "See you in a week."

Harry didn't know where he was, he was too disorientated. He didn't even know how much time passed since Voldemort had put something in his eyes. Harry's right arm had been healed some time during his recovery. Thick gauze and bandages now covered them, and Harry could only blindly feel around. Nothing felt different.

A door to his right opened, he jerked, not being able to see the person. One inhale of breath told him it was Wormtail. The footsteps confirmed his guess and Wormtail made it across the room and pulled him from his bed. "Time to go Potter," the rat remarked.

His sight stifled, Harry stumbled over his feet and the steps. 'What did he do to my eyes?'

"Come along Young Master Potter, we're not too far away…" As he said this, Harry stumbled yet again, but this time down a small flight of steps, landing hard on his knees. "Oh, I'm so sorry Potter; I should've warned you," Wormtail apologized, not sounding sad at all. In fact, Harry believed he heard a touch of humor. How Harry longed to kill this rat.

He yanked Harry up and finally led him into the same room he'd been in with the large mirror.

"Harry, how good it is to see you. Are you feeling alright?" Harry jumped again as Voldemort addressed him. "Come now, let's see how you look. Diffindo." The bandages slid off, slowing dissolving. "Now blink a few times to clear them, there you go." Voldemort went to the front of the chair. "They look wonderful; why don't you see for yourself." He twisted the chair to face the mirror.

"No…" Harry's green eyes, his mother's eyes, had been replaced with two yellow orbs, his pupils had narrowed into slits.

Voldemort leaned forward, their heads next to each other. "They're similar to a basilisk's. I thought they would stand out more with your black mop." He ruffled Harry's hair, before gazing once again into the mirror that showed not only one mirror image but two.

"No!" The mirror shattered into thousands of pieces and flew back onto the gazers. For Harry, the shards passed him, only one nicking him on the cheek. On the other hand, Voldemort was thrown back, the pieces of mirror not only cutting into him, but clipping his robes and impaling themselves on the stone wall.

Harry got up and turned to Voldemort, his yellow eyes gleaming. "Change them back! Change them back now."

Voldemort laughed. "Do you think you intimidate me with your little glass blowing show?"

Harry flicked his hand out, summoning the Dark Lord's wand from the depths of his robe. Harry aimed it at Voldemort's head. "Change them back."

Voldemort pulled against the shards impaling him to the wall; they didn't budge. "Come now Harry, you finally got rid of the thing that related you to your Mudblood mother…"

"Shut up!" He stepped closer, the wand not wavering this time. The anger built up in Harry. The door opened to his right, Harry immediately sent a full body bind, and had the wand back on Voldemort before he could blink. Wormtail fell to the floor in a thud.

"You could really kill me if you wanted to right now Harry. I sense it. You're stronger than before, you're angrier; it radiates off you." He paused, starting into Harry's eyes, "and that is your weakness." He forced his mind on Harry's, similar to the mental assault at the Ministry of Magic.

Harry cried out in pain as his head felt like it was being cleaved in two. He dropped the wand as he gripped his head and fell to his knees. His scar started bleeding. He slid to the floor.

'Oh please let this be the end…'

Voldemort pulled off his assault and summoned his wand. He brushed the glass shards off and the cuts on him healed. He walked up to the drained teen, snorting at him.

"Wormtail!" He released the servant from the bind. The rat scrabbled to his knees.

"Yes… yes Master?"

"I stated earlier that I owed you for stopping Potter, correct?" The rat nodded slowly, unsure what fate was about to deliver. "You have two days. Do what you want, just don't ruin his eyes."

"Master?" Wormtail couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Take him to a spare cell. Your time is being wasted my loyal servant."

"Thank you Master."

Eyes firmly shut, a mute Harry was sitting at the table in the large dining room. The room was almost vacant, most of the Death Eaters at home celebrating the Christmas season and such.

"Would you like some tea Potter? What's that, I can hear you Potter, will you speak louder?" Wormtail taunted sitting down next to Harry.

Harry's lip curled. He tried to ignore the rat, scratching at the small lump on his wrist. It twitched beneath his fingers. He sniffed, not sensing the Dark Lord nearby only the traitor and the rat. He had failed his Master.

"Good morning Snape."

"Wormtail, Young Master Potter. I haven't seen you for a while."

"He's not very talkative today, Snape." Snape quirked an eyebrow. "I have his vocal chords." The eyebrow went higher.

"And why would that be Wormtail? If I remembered our school days, you could barely levitate a feather without Potter or Black doing it for you."

Wormtail reddened slightly before scathingly replying, "You think you know everything Snivellus, you think you're the Dark Lord's favorite. Well, you're not."

Snape twitched at hearing his old nickname. "Just what don't I know? That the Dark Lord is waiting for an opportune moment to kill you; once a traitor, always traitor he likes to say."

Wormtail faltered. "I am his most faithful servant. I am! He… He allowed me to torture Potter."

Snape rolled his eyes, "I did that everyday Potter walked into my classroom." He paused. "I also wouldn't gloat about torturing your next in command."

"Well, Snivellus, that's it isn't it."

"What are you going on about?"

"What if I told you Snivellus that Potter never wanted to be a Death Eater? That everything he has done has been forced until recently, after the Dark Lord sent him to be trained."

"I'd say either way you lie. If the last part is true, then Potter wants to be a Death Eater now so why..."

"Well, Master is having a problem keeping Potter under control. A part of him wants to be a Death Eater while the other rather kill us all."

Snape's mind was reeling; why hadn't he picked up on Harry's troubles? Then, Snape remembered Harry's whisper of "help me." It all made sense.

Wormtail began gushing about his torture session. "Potter was easily broken. All I had to do was say what a whore Lily Evans was and what a pompous idiot James was…"

Harry, no longer in the chains that stopped him in the cell, launched himself at the rat. Unfortunately for Wormtail, Harry had been healed over, and thus slammed his right fist into Wormtail's nose. The chairs both fell over as Harry continued to assault Wormtail. Snape just sat there, not knowing just who to stun.

Wormtail managed to get his wand out. "Crucio!" He pushed the twitching Harry off of him. Harry opened his mouth to scream but with is loss of voice, only could offer a silent cry of anguish.

"Wormtail!" Voldemort's cruel voice rang through the hall. Wormtail immediately withdrew his spell and went back down on his knees. "I gave you two days and those days are up."

"I'm sorry Master, he attacked me…"

"Give him his voice back Wormtail." Wormtail nodded a waved his wand again, a small jar appeared from within his robes, and shattered into dust. Voldemort offered a hand to Harry. Harry sniffed before reaching out and allowed Voldemort to pull him up. "Why don't you open your eyes for me Harry?" Harry turned his head, his eyes remaining resolutely shut. "Fine. Sit down; I'm sure you're starving." Voldemort sat down in front of Snape.

Snape watched Harry as he turned toward the table, inhaling slightly, and reached out for the chair, walking a few steps before sitting down in it.

"Wormtail, fetch the vermin with my breakfast." A pause. "Is something troubling you Severus? You seem very interested in Harry…"

Snape's gaze snapped from Harry to the Dark Lord. "Nothing my lord, it's just that I haven't seen Potter in quite some time…"

"Mmm, yes, well I've been touching up his features. He just hasn't taken too well with it."

Harry turned to Voldemort. "I am merely disgusted that you allowed the filthy rat to tor…"

"You were naughty Harry that was your punishment." Harry's shoulder slumped.

House elves appeared from the kitchen, carrying plates of breakfast foods to the table. Voldemort began making himself some tea.

"At least allowed me my magic back…" Harry begged.

"Absolutely not, not when you cannot control your filthy emotions." Harry's shoulders slumped even more. Voldemort offered him a smile. "When we leave my son, which leads me to you Severus." Snape looked up into the Dark Lord's eyes. "I want you to set the Order up…"

Harry moved down the corridor, hardly making a sound. His black robes billowed behind him. The Death Eater mask was clutched in hand as Harry entered the large lounge room. He paused, inhaling deeply. There were more Death Eater here than on the night of the Muggle baiting incident. Harry smiled, 'Our numbers are growing.' He weaved through the crowd hearing "good evening Young Master Potter" and "happy Boxing Day Young Master Potter." He ignored them all and walked up to the Dark Lord. He bowed and took his place to the right of Voldemort.

"If you just used your sight my heir, you needn't have to exert so much energy." Harry shook his head and pushed the mask against his face. He then brought the black hood up, covering the back side of his head. Voldemort took off the remaining block on Harry's magic and handed him his wand. "Don't disappoint me tonight."

They stood there for a few more minutes allowing more Death Eaters to arrive. Finally, the last one arrived. No words were needed this time. Everyone knew their objective. Voldemort lowered the Apparation barriers and the congregation vanished.

The Ministry was surprisingly quiet tonight. On the tip from Severus Snape, the Order had felt they needed to inform the new minister, Rufus Scrimgeour, that a small team of Death Eaters were going to infiltrate the Ministry and try to get in the Department of Mysteries. The Minister cleared out the mostly skeletal holiday staff. And, just to be sure, most of Order of the Phoenix was there, save Dumbledore and McGonagall, totaling about twenty-five people. Scrimgeour insisted they take another twenty-five Aurors incase things got heavy. Or if the Daily Prophet caught wind a secret society group headed by Albus Dumbledore was protecting the Ministry while Aurors sipped tea at home and popped crackers. Scrimgeour did not need those owls tomorrow morning.

With a 'pop', over a hundred Death Eaters appeared within the Atrium, Voldemort at the front. They lined up and pulled out their wands.

"Bloody hell! Snape lied to us, someone send for back up!"

Molly Weasley tried to Disapparate. "Someone put a barrier on the wards, I can't leave. Does anyone have a portkey?"

The light was in slight disarray but were to forced to begin the fight anyways. Each Death Eater had erected personal shields and was easily picking off the Order and Aurors.

Voldemort tuned to Harry, "Come my heir, let us defeat the only thing that stands in our way."

Harry followed, deflecting the spells that pathetically tried to hit the Dark Lord. He inhaled; he sensed many Aurors were dead and used magic to form a picture of the scene. He drifted away from Voldemort and blocked a nasty hex that was headed toward Lucius.

"Thanks Potter." He dashed ahead and became engaged in a duel with Arthur Weasley. Harry formed the battle in his mind all the while deflecting spells sent his way like gnats with a swatter. Lucius had disarmed Arthur and was aiming to kill. "Avada…"

Harry returned, "No!" He pushed Arthur back just as Lucius muttered, "Kedavra." The green spell burnt the tile.

Summoning his energy around him, Harry urged the ground to rise and it did creating a wall blocking the two feuding sides from each other.

On the other side, the Order stared stupidly at the wall. Moody limped along, "Who casted it? Constant vigilance! It may come down again. Who's working on getting us backup?"

Snape had approached the wall. Voldemort had okayed his "switch" to the Order's side half way through the battle to ensure he kept their trust. He prodded the wall with his wand, it remain solid. "Potter…"

"Snape! There you are, you lying piece of…"

"I shud rip you ter pieces…"

"A small team? My sons are here because I thought it wouldn't be every Death Eater… Where's Arthur?"

Moody finally stumped up to Snape, his wand pointed at the spy. "Everyone settled down, find out who's injured. Make sure everyone is here. Don't you move," he growled as Snape went to help. "I want answers Snape, Dumbledore trusted you and I don't see any reason why we should."

Meanwhile, Lucius turned to Harry, "What was that about Potter? I was finally going to kill that Muggle lover Weasley…"

Harry cast a full body bind combined with a powerful sticking charm and went at it with all nearby Death Eaters.

"Reducto! Sectumsempra!"

Harry howled in pain as his right arm broke again and blood spurted from his nose. He crumpled to the ground, his arm close to his chest, and his unbroken one stuffed up against his nose.

The Dark Lord approached the teen. His sense of smell blocked, Harry constantly kept his head moving, listening to any footsteps.

"Crucio!" Harry screamed, his echoes joining him in a choir.

On the other side of the wall, the Order jumped at the screams. Moody growled, "Who's unaccounted for? I can't see through this bloody wall! Some idiot better give me stats!" He limped a few steps away as the members ran about figuring who was where.

Snape immediately knew who it was. Ignoring Moody's earlier warning, Snape turned and tried blowing a hole in Harry's wall. He managed to get a spell off but it did nothing to the wall. He ran at it; hoping it was a very good illusion spell. One painful shoulder told him it wasn't. Then, a spell narrowly missed his head and sizzled on the wall behind.

"I told you not to move you traitor. Drop your wand and kick it over here."

"Let me explain…"

"Shut up!" The screaming continued; the wall wavered. "Who is that? Which one of us did they get?" Snape didn't respond. "We have twenty causalities because of your false tip Snape. You better start talking."

The screaming was getting hoarser; the wall quivered again. "We need to get out of here; he can't hold this wall any longer."

Molly Apparated near Moody, "The Minister is sending every able Aurors to Apparate here in one minute."

Moody grunted. "How many injured?"

Tonks stood forward, heavily bruised, "Twenty-five, Moody."

They heard a flurrying of cloaks; the Aurors had appeared. Immediately the screaming stopped and the wall vanished leaving behind fifteen stuck Death Eaters.

-Anaticulapraecantrix 2006

See you all in three weeks.