A/N: Do you think my chapters are too small? Lol

Disclaimer: Guess what... what? not mine.

Let's begin…

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Chapter 2 - Big Crap, or Bigger Crap?

(…Continuation of the flashback in the past chapter…)

He had to think fast! "Lucius," he said in a calm voice without turning back or stopping, he passed over the boy's body and continued up the steps, "do you care to explain?"

Lucius immediately stepped to the front, not that he was very far away, he was always a front row kind of man, dear Lucius…

"My Lord, we have managed to capture Harry Potter," he looked up at Voldemort.

Even behind his mask Voldemort could see his eyes very clearly. Those pretty blue eyes looked slightly anxious, and that might mean nothing with any other man, but with Lucius it meant he was lying, well not precisely lying, but definitely hiding something. You see, many people believe Voldemort uses Legilimency to read his followers' minds, and that was true in some cases, in other, more precise cases, like with Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape, the two men were such good occlumens that it was almost impossible for him to actually catch any of their thoughts through Legilimency. This meant, he had to find another way to figure out what they were thinking and when they were lying, so he had perfected the art of reading one's expression, and when one had no expression, one's eyes.

"I can see that Lucius, what I was wondering is how…" it wasn't a question, per se. And Lucius didn't seem very happy for having to respond at all, but with a more direct look from Voldemort, he ended up saying:

"In our last mission, in St Mungo's, he wasn't there at the beginning, but he appeared with the Weasley boy that always hangs around him," Lucius stopped for a moment. When it became obvious he wasn't going to continue, Voldemort said:

"Ronald Weasley, yes, and…"

Lucius sighed, but continued in a calm tone, "And there was a battle for a few moments, then Potter fell down," Voldemort just looked at him, "the Weasley boy shot him with a stunner in the back."

Oh, so that was the big fuss. His other Death Eaters seemed pretty happy, but Lucius had a problem with the situation - smart, smart Lucius. Yes, there was something wrong with the situation, obviously.

First, they hadn't managed to capture anything; the boy had been set up, betrayed, and delivered to them on a silver platter.

Second, and really a continuation of the first, there had to be something behind it. It was too easy, and they knew it, well, at least Lucius did. It was probably the Old Coot's plan, and to prove it, reason number three:

Severus wasn't here. And if he wasn't here enjoying the Potter brats' final capture, then it meant he was working and trying to find out Dumbledore's plan. Smart, smart Severus.

But apparently he only had two smart followers since the others were clearly overjoyed. Stupid followers, just what he needed…

Although, Lucius' problem with this 'capture' could also be an issue of honor; Lucius is a very proud man… always was… maybe he has come to respect the boy after that little incident in the Ministry and his defeat by the boy as well. Along with his very regrettable, if short stay, at Azkaban.

Oh, well… no time to wonder about that now. It was time to think about what the hell Dumbledore's plan is and how to 'transfigure the tables on him'.

And the boy… Voldemort took one more look to the still stunned boy at his feet. Crap… he also wasn't very pleased with this new development. Defeating the boy fair and square had become a sort of a crusade, and not this stupid ending… so anticlimactic!

Say what you want, but Dumbledore clearly had no style.

Lord Voldemort looked around the room. He knew what his men were waiting for, with those smirks on their faces, and denying it, would only give room to doubt, and maybe even defiance, and he could not afford that at the moment, tch, tch, tch, oh well…

"That is very interesting Lucius, and could have been told a lot faster. Accompany me to my office." Lucius nodded and followed after Voldemort. Everyone else believed that he was going to be punished, but Lucius knew better. His Lord probably just wanted to talk about the scene at St Mungo's in more detail to try and figure out Dumbledore's plans.

"As for Potter," Voldemort continued before leaving the room completely, "I'm sure you can all give him a 'warm welcome'. Nothing permanent, just keep it to beatings, and no rape - I just had the floors cleaned this morning. I have more 'permanent' plans for Mr. Potter, after all…" That would do; innuendo was, after all, one of his specialties.

"When you're done I believe we have a cell in the dungeons that is just perfect for his 'size'." He could see the smirks in some of the mask-less faces. Yes, that would definitively do. The boy would survive, relatively unharmed, and he could think about what to do with him later on. For now, killing Dumbledore and winning the war took priority.

End of flashback.

That had been a big mistake; he should have killed him when he had the chance.

Instead he had gone to his office, talked with Lucius, and eventually with Severus, when his spy had finally got rid of Dumbledore and managed to come.

It turned out that Potter was becoming too unstable and not very malleable anymore, since his godfather's death in the Department of Mysteries, or as Snape said it:

"Black finally did something useful… he dropped dead."

So Dumbledore decided it was about time he made sure the prophecy took place. He planned with Mr. Weasley to stun Potter in the back so that the Death Eaters could capture the boy without killing him, and bring him to Voldemort.

Dumbledore assumed Voldemort would try and fight the boy again, but this time Harry would either win or lose; either way they got rid of one problem. If Harry won, no more Voldemort, if Voldemort won, no more dangerous-asking-too-many questions Harry and they would have, instead, a perfect little martyr for their cause.

"Tch… and they say we're the evil ones," said Lucius.

"We are the evil ones," said Severus, "that just doesn't mean we are the only evil ones. We do not own the monopoly for evilness. They can be evil too."

And so continued the debate on the nature of evil, as they often argued about that.

But Voldemort wasn't participating as he often did, or even listening. He was too busy thinking and rethinking about the boy and what to do with him. Since he wasn't dead he was now his problem, but he had to concentrate on winning the war and had decided to leave the boy for later.

'Unfortunately,' thought Voldemort while gazing at his garden through a window in his library, 'later was now. '

For five months had he been avoiding having to make a decision about the boy, but now he was running out of excuses to keep the boy alive. Not that he needed to give excuses to anyone, except perhaps Nagini. I mean, he was the most powerful man in the world, and an evil Dark Lord at that, but he was running out of the excuses he had been using with himself.

"Just until I defeat Dumbledore, then I will deal with him" - "Just until I have control over the Ministry and the people" - "Just after I have eradicated the Order's last members, then I will definitely…" but he never did.

The truth was that he didn't want to kill the boy, for reasons he did not even wanted to think about, but he knew he could not possibly let the boy live any longer; that was a disaster waiting to happen. If anyone found out about the brat still being alive or if he somehow managed to escape the freaking war would start all over again, and he could not let that happen… crap indeed.

The problem was that the boy was too powerful and hated his guts. And a powerful enemy can only be handled in one way: he must die.

This was his dilemma: how do you kill an enemy, without killing him?

Hum…

He had something there, an idea, not a brilliant idea, but an idea nonetheless…

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A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! You are few, but you're good! Keep reviewing and I'll keep updating fast!