Who Is the Rightful Heir?
Chapter 5
Searching
Draco POV
Grimmauld Place Number Twelve wasn't where Salazar was staying. I think deep down I knew he wasn't there, but I had to check anyways. At least I was able to help Master in some way possible. Bill had always been a pain in the neck for Master. The boy never knew when to quit. Now he had retired, permanently.
I left the building immediately after searching every room. It was interesting to see the tapestry, a hole taking the place of Sirius Black's name. Served the man right. If he would have been on the Dark Side, the man would have still been living and probably one of Master's greatest Death Eaters. Sirius Black had, had talent. No one could ignore the fact. But the powers were wasted for good. Even then he hadn't shown his full potential. What he could do was too much for the Light Side. On the Dark Side he could show everyone what he could do, but instead he chose to hide them with the Light Side.
The next place was Riddle Mansion. Even after all of the battles fought in and around the place, it still stood strongly, showing its own power of the family. Not the Riddle's of course, the pathetic muggle family had no power. It showed the power of the Gaunt family and the line of Salazar Slytherin, that was where the true power lied.
Vines of ivy had grown up the front and left side of the house, covering every window. Luckily the door had been missed. Its wooden doors still looked like they did the last time I had been to the place almost eight years ago. Carefully, I avoided stepping on broken statues that were rotting away on the moist ground, and the many snakes that had taken the area as their home. Even with how it looked now, you could still tell that a person of Slytherin blood had lived here.
The door into the mansion opened easily enough, like it hadn't been abandoned. It was a sign that someone was living there. This time I didn't walk slowly. The speed took too much time. Instead, I swiftly entered the building and searched every room. Each place was spotless. Not a speck of dust was on the floor or furniture. The walls looked like they had just been painted, unlike Grimmauld Place. But no one was there and it didn't seem like anyone did, excluding how well it was kept.
"Salazar!" I yelled. It echoed throughout the empty place. Anger formed inside of me when no one answered.
I walked out of Riddle Mansion in a swift manner. Salazar clearly wasn't there so my searching would only be useless. Right when I was off of the land belonging to my master, I Apparated out of sight, swearing to myself and trying to figure out where the boy would be hiding.
Voldemort's POV
Meredith was still having troubles with her potions and spells. With two of the potions she had put lilac in them. Both of them blew up and gave her boils that wouldn't disappear with the help of anything. She had to wait them out for a week each time. Each new spell took more time than necessary to learn let alone properly use it. She would always protest that what she thought was right was right, but it never was. The girl was downgrading herself and doing it fast.
I noticed at many of our meetings that Meredith would pay more attention to an Outer Circle Death Eater named Matthew more than anyone else. After meetings, I would see them quietly talking to each other in a deserted hallway. This, I figured, would be my way in.
After secretly watching, from the shadows, Meredith and Matthew part, I grabbed a hold of the boy as he passed me. Before he could make a sound, my bony hand was on his mouth and I was pulling him into an empty room nearby. It turned out to be a bedroom, of who's I didn't know.
"M-master." Matthew bowed to me once I let him go.
"Matthew, correct?" I had to make sure I had his name right. I never kept track of my Outer Circle's names. They had never been important to me.
The tall and lean, brown haired boy nodded nervously.
"I need you to do something for me, Matthew. Of course, you have the choice to decline, but the option to decline always comes with a warning." I told him as I sat down. Matthew swallowed hard and was about to sit down when I stopped him. "I never told you to, did I?"
Matthew shook his head.
I laughed then told him it was alright to sit down. I was just trying to scare him. You could tell my tactics were working quite well. The boy was scared stiff.
"What do you need me to do, Master?" Matthew was able to force out.
"You talk to Meredith Grakshaw a lot, don't you?" I asked him.
"Meredith is our leader. I sort of have to talk to her."
"Yes, but you talk to her more than just with other Death Eaters. The two of you talk in private, just like you did today, and often."
Matthew nodded.
"May I ask about what?"
"It's mostly Meredith who talks. She always tells me what's on her mind. Once in a while she'll talk about what she thinks of one of the Outer or Inner Circle Death Eaters. Other times she'll talk about her lessons with you and what happens in them. But, most of the time she talks about Salazar, sir. She's said a lot about your son, sir."
This interested me greatly. Meredith never really talked about my son much. When she did, she always came up with interesting questions or remarks, but hearing that she spoke of him a lot was interesting news.
"What does she say about Salazar?" I pressed Matthew.
"She never speaks highly of him, sir. Instead, she speaks of him almost like a disease. She's always saying how he was an unnecessary part of your life and prevented you from actually taking over the wizarding world. Then she'll usually say something that says she's the one who's been helping you keep your position as Dark Lord and helping you start your takeover of the muggle world." Matthew slowly told me. Fear was in his eyes. He didn't want to be punished for this.
"You do not believe this, do you Matthew?" I asked.
"I've been with you for almost five months now, sir. My parents sent me here right after Albus Dumbledore was killed at your hands…"
"Salazar had killed him. People only believe I did it because I am the Dark Lord and he was Albus Dumbledore, my mortal enemy. What you read in newspapers, boy, isn't all true." I interrupted him.
"Yes, sir. But I've seen Salazar before. I was sent to give him food and tell him when you were coming multiple times. Sure he seemed like he was a person belonging to the Light Side with the way he acted, but his aura seemed to be the complete opposite, like deep down he liked killing the people he killed." Matthew explained. "Also, the show of those student leaders. The Malfoy had a good show of his artistic abilities. You had your own twist to the torture making it more enjoyable. Then there's Meredith and Salazar. Meredith was the first one to use the memory pain, yes, but you don't know something. Meredith never used a memory."
I was confused. If Meredith hadn't used a memory then what was the white strand? What else could it be?
"Meredith made it look like a memory, but she used a slow acting Cruciatus. She's good with her Unforgivables, yes, but creativity isn't really her thing. Salazar had been fooled as well, but when he took his turn on the Asian he actually used the memory pain. He also was able to make adjustments to them as well. But, the best thing was the muggle pain. He didn't just use it because it was painful and slow, but he used it to relieve himself of the pain he endured with his muggle relatives. What Salazar does has always had something to do with his past."
I glared at the boy. "What are you a psychiatrist?" Matthew quickly shook his head.
Before I could curse him, I made him leave the room.
Draco's POV
I had searched everywhere, Grimmauld Place Number Twelve, Riddle Mansion, Salazar's relative's place (no one had to worry about them now), Siberia, underground, the cave from when he was little, and I even checked Hogwarts. Salazar wasn't anywhere.
"Need another one?"
I looked up at the bartender of the newly reformed Leaky Cauldron. Now, it was only for Death Eaters and their guests. In my hand was an empty bottle of firewhiskey. It was my fourth one.
"Yeah, I need another one."
He opened another bottle, set it in front of me, and took the empty one from my hand. I took a drink before the bartender spoke again.
"You seem like you've had a hard day, son."
I scoffed. "A hard day doesn't even describe what I've gone through. Now I'm going to have to go back and most likely will receive a nice hearty punishment."
"Ah, so a mission for the Dark Lord."
"I wish. I went off on my own, with out his permission to go find someone. I thought I could find him, but apparently not. The guy's well hidden."
The bartender started wiping up a spill that one of the new Outer Circle Death Eaters made. But he kept talking to me. "You're talking about Salazar aren't you, the Dark Lord's son?"
I didn't answer I just took another swig.
"You know, there's a statue of the kid. Of course he's a baby then and looks like Harry Potter."
I looked at the bartender as he finished drying the spot. "Why did they make a statue?"
"Everyone thought the boy had killed the Dark Lord! Why else would they make a statue?"
"Where is this statue?" I asked.
"In Godric's Hollow, of course, where else? It was where the Potters had lived. Of course, I'm actually not so sure the statue still stands. The Dark Lord could have had it taken down after Salazar came out as his son…"
I never heard the rest of what the bartender said. I had already left the bar and Apparated to where Salazar was. The guy was tricky, but there was always some clue to finding him.
Salazar's POV
Death…
Please…
Help…
I need…
Death…
…………
Draco's POV
"Salazar?" I called out as I opened the door to the Potter's old house.
There was no reply, but it was warm inside like a fire was burning. Hope entered my body as I stepped farther into the room.
"Salazar?" I called again.
The sound of something falling on carpet replied. Not knowing if it was good or bad, I ran into the next room. There, lying on the floor in front of the burning fire in the fireplace, was Salazar, unconscious and twitching slightly.
"Salazar!" I yelled and tried to shake him awake, but had no luck.
I got Salazar back onto the couch then found the kitchen and filled a bowl with warm water and another with cold water. On the way out I grabbed a towel. Like before, I started to dab the water onto the unconscious Salazar, trying to get him to stop twitching. The teen was in pain, but from what I didn't know.
I stayed there, trying to get Salazar to stop, for two hours. The whole time I worried, hoping the wizard was okay. He had to be okay.
"D-draco?" I felt the hand of my friend lightly grasp my arm. Relief spread throughout me. "H-help…me."
A/N: There you have it… the fifth chapter… hopefully you like it… it was longer than the last chapter!
power214063: I don't know if I'll ever make a potion that can tell you who you're related to. I think it would sort of ruin the whole plot, don't you? Then they would immediately figure out if she's related or not. Voldemort finding out the hard way sounds more fun to me.
Marry Hiwatarie: Yeah! I answered most of your questions! Don't worry if English is only your second language, I make spelling mistakes and actually speak English wrong a lot of times and it's my first language… did you know that funner actually isn't a word? You should actually say more fun… I think it's stupid…
TuxedoKamenLuver: Dotted sequences…that's a boring name for them… I will from now on call them triple dots… nah… that sounds stupid… Draco had the right to tell off Voldemort too… the guy wasn't listening… and don't worry about being weird… I can be weird at times too… can't we all?
Kamorie: Yeah, I killed Bill… hey Kill Bill's a movie…sweet… I don't really care what you called the girl… I hate her too… she doesn't deserve what she gets… I don't usually get offended anyways… but yeah… Meredith's a bitch, Draco's got guts, and Voldemort's somewhat of an idiot… what next?
&& …Did you know that some guy wrote a parody on Harry Potter and actually got it published… well he published it himself, but it's still published… called Barry Trotter I believe if anyone wants to check it out… &&