Chapter Thirty Two: The Prophecy and a Sirius Discussion

Raiden sat in the chair opposite Dumbledore and watched the proceedings intently. Dumbledore got his Pensieve down from a shelf and sat it on the desk so it was between them.

"Do you know what this is, Harry?" he asked.

Raiden nodded. "Yes sir, it's a Pensieve" he replied, wondering what it had to do with anything.

Dumbledore sensed his confusion and explained, "The reason you survived the killing curse, when no one else did was due to a prophecy made a few months or so before your birth. One copy was kept in the hall of prophecies that you were in tonight, and the only other copy is in here."

"Why would the other copy be in your Pensieve sir?" Raiden questioned, interested, despite the still simmering anger, grief and tiredness that was threatening to engulf him.

Dumbledore smiled and said, "Because the prophecy was made by our Divination Professor, Sybil Trelawney, and I heard it. It was when I was interviewing her for the post of Divination professor actually. Shall we take a look?"

Dumbledore tapped the bowl with his wand and smoky figures rose above the bowl. "Myself and Sybil in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade. She is just about to go into the trance."

As they watched, Trelawney went into a trance and spoke the prophecy. "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord shall mark him as his equal but he shall have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"

Raiden shoved himself away from the desk and stood, trembling. He couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it. He loathed Divination, thought it was a load of crap. He couldn't believe that he was destined to kill his mentor, the person that had taught him about magic. Without pausing, he turned and threw up into the wastebasket. Dumbledore watched with a hint of sadness in his eyes, and vanished the mess without a word afterwards.

"It's, it's not true. I refuse to believe that I have to kill him or be killed by him. Are you sure it's me Professor?" Raiden said, a hint of desperation entering his voice. Dumbledore nodded gravely and rose, coming over beside Raiden, who had fallen to his knees, unable to remain standing. He gently traced the lightning bolt scar, still red and inflamed from Voldemort's harsh treatment of it.

"Yes Harry, I'm afraid it is you. It could have been Neville Longbottom, his birthday is on the same day as yours but you were born late at night, you were born just as midnight struck. Also, Voldemort himself chose you. He doesn't know the full prophecy; he only knows the first part of it. He knows the part about a boy born in July having the power to kill him. When he came to kill you on Halloween, he thought he was fulfilling the prophecy but he was only setting the terms as it were. He chose you Harry, and you have to kill him. Not right now, you're not powerful enough yet but someday you will be his equal and then you will be able to kill him."

Raiden held up a hand, requesting silence and Dumbledore gave it to him. His mind was whirling, he had to find some way round it, he absolutely refused to kill his master.

'But would your master refuse to kill you?' a tiny voice whispered in the back of his mind. Raiden ruthlessly squashed that thought, Voldemort might be harsh with him at times but the Dark Lord did care about him. In his own way, Voldemort loved him, and yes he was capable of love, he just didn't show that side of himself to anyone other than Raiden and Nagini. Finally he looked up, and then rose from the floor, his knees protesting at the movement. Looking Dumbledore straight in the eyes he said, "I need time to think Professor, may I go to my dorm?"

Dumbledore nodded and released him, sighing deeply once Raiden had left. The amount of anger simmering inside the younger wizard seemed to have decreased at least a tiny amount but it was still there, like a powder keg just waiting to explode.

'If Harry should ever go Dark I wouldn't like to be in a fight against him' Dumbledore thought to himself before looking over at Fawkes, who gave a mournful trill in agreement.

Raiden didn't function very well over the last two days of school. Fortunately, Snape was Portkeying Draco and Raiden back to Malfoy Manor rather than them taking the train. Once the Portkey had finished, Raiden greeted Lucius and Narcissa rather listlessly and then headed for his room, where he flopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling with a sightless gaze.

Down below, Draco was confused. "What's got into him? He went with Dumbledore to the Ministry, there was a battle, I know that much. Then he had a conversation with Dumbledore afterwards. He's, it's like he's broken in a way."

Lucius, Narcissa and Severus exchanged glances before leading Draco into the sitting room and sitting down on the chairs there. Fixing Draco with a serious look, Lucius said quietly, "At the battle, Harry dueled me, and the other Death Eaters, before grabbing the thing that our Lord sent him to get. Sirius was fighting with the Order of the Phoenix, as our Lord ordered him to do. During the battle, we moved into the death chamber in the Department of Mysteries, where the Veil of Death is kept and your aunt Bellatrix stunned Sirius. He fell backwards through the veil. Harry lost it at that point, Draco, he ran after Bellatrix, and Crucioed her."

Draco looked impressed. "Wow, I thought the only person who could do that was our Lord."

Nods greeted his statement and Snape added, "Yes, so did we. However, Harry wasn't letting up, and if the Dark Lord hadn't blasted him away from her, your aunt might well have ended up in a bed across from Longbottom's parents in St Mungo's. She still might if Harry sees her before his temper has a chance to cool down. Harry dueled the Dark Lord for five minutes before being backed into a corner. The Dark Lord was not pleased at his use of an Unforgivable and punished him before taking Bellatrix and apparating out of the Ministry. Dumbledore took Harry back to his office and talked with him, about what I don't know. You'd need to find that out from Harry."

Draco immediately got up. "I'll go find out then, he can't keep it bottled up inside like this, it'll kill him."

He was about to leave the room when a tired voice said, "Don't bother, I'm here."

Raiden was standing in the doorway, his eyes bloodshot and his whole posture screaming of some inner turmoil that needed to be released but had no outlet at present. Narcissa rose from her chair and enveloped him in a hug, and Raiden clung to her like a lifeline. Narcissa gently steered the two of them over to the couch where she held him until he was ready to tell them what was bothering him.

With a small sniff, Raiden sat up straight again and then asked, "How many of you believe in prophecy and destiny and all that stuff?"

There was silence from his audience before Lucius answered, "None of us. We believe that a person chooses their own path in life, and nothing can influence it except for the choices that that person makes. Why do you ask?"

Raiden locked eyes with those of his guardian and smiled humorlessly. "Dumbledore told me why I'm the Boy Who Lived tonight. He said that the reason I survived a killing curse was because of a prophecy that that stupid old bat Trelawney made before I was born."

"And what did that prophecy say, Harry?" Lucius questioned softly.

Raiden shrugged and recited the prophecy in full. When he was finished he looked at them and said, "I can't do it. I can't kill him, he's my mentor, he's the one who taught me to use magic for Merlin's sake! How am I supposed to face him now, knowing that I'm the one that will be his downfall?"

A stinging hex hit him at that point, thrown by an annoyed looking Snape. "Snap out of it, Potter, that prophecy is very vague. Besides, have you thought that it might already have come to pass?"

Now Raiden glanced at him with a startled expression. "How?" he asked.

Snape smirked at him before replying, "We all know that for all intents and purposes, Harry Potter died when you took the name Raiden. You answer to it in school and such places because it's not the right time to reveal yourself as our Lord's apprentice yet. The two of you seem to be doing a good job of co-existing at the moment, so stop the pity party!"

Raiden blinked a couple of times, processing the rather forceful statement by his head of house before he smiled. "Thank you sir," he said softly, the weight lifting off him as he realized that Snape was most probably right. He then slipped back into depression as he remembered Sirius and his untimely demise.

"Now what though? Sirius is still dead" he muttered.

The adults looked at each other before there was a soft cough from Lucius. "Actually, our Lord requested your presence as soon as you were fit to talk. He wants to discuss some things with you, and Sirius is one of them. He told me to Apparate you over as soon as you were ready."

Raiden shrugged and stood. "I'll get changed then," was all he said before he disappeared up to his room to change into his Avenger robes, he didn't know if any other Death Eaters would be there and he didn't want his identity being revealed by accident. Once he came downstairs again, Lucius swiftly Apparated them to Riddle Manor.

Raiden was shown to Voldemort's study where he found the Dark Lord writing something on a scroll of parchment. He sat down and waited patiently for his master to acknowledge his presence. Voldemort finally finished what he was doing and looked up, frowning when he saw his apprentice's attire.

"I did not expect you to come in those robes, Raiden," he commented.

Raiden shrugged. "I didn't know whether it would just be the two of us here or not and I didn't want my identity revealed by accident, Master," he replied. Voldemort frowned again before nodding in agreement.

"You're right. However, it is just the two of us so take off the robe and mask, and get comfortable. I want to talk to you about what happened in the Ministry."

Raiden winced; he'd been hoping to have a bit more time to recover before discussing it. Apparently that wasn't to be. After he rearranged his clothing to be more comfortable he waited for the discussion to begin.

"Did you manage to get the prophecy I sent you to get?" Voldemort asked neutrally.

He was pleased when Raiden nodded. "Yes Master. The ball is still at Malfoy Manor but Dumbledore had a copy of it in his Pensieve. Are, are you sure you want to know it?"

Raiden was now nervous and unsure of himself. He didn't know how Voldemort was going to react. He tried to hide his unease but Voldemort picked up on it anyway.

"What's got you so nervous Raiden?" he asked.

Raiden shrugged and recited the prophecy once more.

Voldemort leant back in his chair and stared at his apprentice with a neutral expression. "You thought I might try to kill you when I knew the full contents of the prophecy" he stated with no emotion in his voice.

Raiden nodded and then hastily added, "For a second or two that's all."

Voldemort shook his head. "Prophecies do not have to be taken literally, Raiden, there are many ways to vanquish a person without killing them, and who's to say the prophecy hasn't already been sidestepped, what with you being my apprentice and being renamed as Raiden. Not all prophecies come true, most of those prophecies in that hall are from thousands of years ago and they have never, to my knowledge come to pass. It's useful to know, but it's nothing to panic over. Besides, we're both alive and coexisting quite nicely so that rather puts a spanner in the works if the prophecy is true does it not?"

Raiden gave a small grin and said, "That's what Severus said."

Voldemort smirked and said, "Yes well, he is an intelligent person." Growing serious again, he said, "Now that we've got the prophecy out of the way, we need to discuss your appalling habit of disobeying me when you lose control of your emotions. I seem to recall punishing you on the night of my return for using the killing curse, and now, I have had to punish you again for using the Cruciatus on Bellatrix. You know, when people start learning the Unforgivables they generally start with the Imperius curse, not the Killing Curse. You're going backwards."

Raiden smirked slightly but it faded when he realized that Voldemort wasn't really amused at the situation. "I'm sorry Master but she taunted me about killing Sirius and I, I loved him. I know I overreacted but if I'd used any other Dark Arts curse there would have been questions of where I'd learnt it. At least with the Cruciatus, we'd learnt the incantation in fourth year, as well as what it does. It's not unheard of for people to use an Unforgivable on a loved one's attacker when overcome by grief and/or rage. Dumbledore even said that there wouldn't be any official repercussions from it."

Voldemort scowled. "Not from him, maybe. From me, however there will be."

Raiden looked somewhat wary at this and said, "But you already punished me for it and in front of almost all of the Order of the Fried Turkey too. Don't you think that's enough?"

Voldemort narrowed his eyes and suddenly Raiden found himself held immobile and his wand was in Voldemort's hand. Lashing out with wandless magic Raiden tried to free himself but found that his master was too strong for him, even though he was powerful for his age.

"No I do not," Voldemort commented, watching Raiden struggles with dark amusement. "I was considering Crucioing you for the same amount of time that you held Bellatrix under it but you would be insane at the halfway point. Therefore, I will be demonstrating the finer points of creative torture that doesn't leave permanent marks, on you. Starting now."

Before Raiden could so much as protest he found himself hanging upside down in mid air, with his master's wand pointed straight at him. Voldemort walked round his upside down apprentice and ignored the foul language coming from his mouth until Raiden finally hissed one insult too many and he snapped.

The torture began with Raiden experiencing the highly unpleasant and very odd sensation of having one's mouth washed out whilst being upside down. With soap dribbling out his mouth thanks to the scourgify charm, the curses were unintelligible which was the effect that Voldemort wanted. With a smirk, the Dark Lord continued the lesson.

"Now, this little curse is particularly effective," he lectured, still walking round his captive audience of one. Raiden was fuming over the humiliation of being flipped upside down and having his mouth washed out but he did listen.

"It causes the victim to feel as though they're burning alive, by overheating the body. The incantation is Fervefacio corpus. Voldemort directed the curse so it struck Raiden in the leg. He smirked as Raiden bit back a curse, and twisted in his invisible bonds. The curse was working, Raiden felt as though his leg was on fire. Through pained hisses, and the mouthful of soap he was still dealing with he spluttered, "Please, Master, stop."

Voldemort shrugged and ended the curse, following it with a cooling charm to reverse the effects. He wanted to teach Raiden a lesson, not permanently damage him after all. Examining the area of the leg that he'd cursed he was pleased to see not one mark. Smiling in an evil fashion, he started teaching Raiden several other curses and hexes, all the while using Raiden as the practice dummy. Finally after an hour, he decided that Raiden had had enough and let him down.

Raiden landed on the floor in an undignified sprawl, just barely avoiding landing on his head. Slowly and painfully he righted himself and then sat back down in his chair. He glared at Voldemort and muttered, "I hate you."

His master merely laughed and replied, "No you don't. You hate what I did to you; there is a difference you know. Now, are you going to start swearing at me again or do I have to scourgify your mouth a second time?"

Raiden spluttered in shock before shaking his head. "No I'm not. And I wasn't swearing at you I was swearing at the situation I was in. Was that whole torture session simply because I used the Cruciatus curse?"

Voldemort shrugged. "Half of it was, yes. I would have stopped after the organ liquefaction curse if you hadn't sworn at me so much. The second half of it was because you couldn't keep your mouth shut. Didn't you have fun learning those curses though?"

Raiden glared at his master again and then muttered resentfully, "It would have been better if Bellatrix had been the practice dummy. Does she know the real reason I cursed her in the Ministry?"

Voldemort shook his head. "No. I cursed her again myself, once we got back here, and told her it was because I was trying to get him over to our side. She thinks he was just a potential ally. She will learn the truth however, when we get Sirius back."

"Wait; did you just say get Sirius back?" Raiden questioned. Voldemort nodded a small smile on his face. Raiden shook his head confused. "I thought that veil was used as a way to execute criminals until the Dementor's Kiss was legalized as the official ultimate sentence. How can we get him back, or can you really reverse death?"

Voldemort chuckled. "No I can't reverse death Raiden, but Sirius was only stunned when he went through. I was reading old notes that the Department of Mysteries workers have made on the veil and I discovered something very interesting in a tiny footnote at the bottom of one scroll. He pulled it over and gestured for Raiden to take a look.

"I can't read it Master, it's almost illegible" Raiden finally said, confused.

Voldemort nodded. "I had to use several charms in order to be able to read it but essentially it says that the veil was thought to be a portal to the realm of the dead, but it isn't. What it is, is a sort of holding place, limbo if you will. The person is stuck there, between life and death, for one year. If, in one year's time, that person's loved one, or ones come to the veil room on the exact same date that the person went through the veil, and it must be the exact date Raiden, and speak a particular incantation then that person will come back."

"What happens if that one year date passes?" Raiden enquired.

Voldemort smirked. "Then the normal effects of not eating or drinking anything for a year catch up with the person and they do die. The limbo effect only lasts for one year."

Raiden slowly smiled, which grew to a massive grin. "So you're saying that in one year, we can get Sirius back?"

Voldemort nodded but held up a hand. "Slowly, Raiden. Now we have to figure out how to get into the Department of Mysteries and into that room on that specific date. If we can't do that then Sirius will be dead and gone. Don't get your hopes up too far."

Raiden nodded, his momentary good humor evaporating. He looked up and then smirked before asking, "How did the original researchers figure this out?"

Voldemort smirked back and replied, "Trial and error. The incantation was the easy part; the one year part was a fluke discovery. Turns out a criminal who they'd sent through the veil returned when a researcher who was part of their family spoke the incantation in front of the veil. It was quite by accident that it was exactly one year since the criminal's supposed death, and no one was more shocked than that poor researcher. The crook was, however, guilty of their crime so the researcher promptly used the killing curse on them and threw the body back through the veil. The researcher never spoke of the phenomenon, and only recorded it in this footnote that I showed you, along with the incantation, for historic record. Because the phenomenon was never officially recorded, the veil continued to be used for executions and is to this day thought of as the Veil of Death. Only that researcher, and now us, know the truth."

Raiden chuckled, before saying, "Well that's good news then. Magic can really be surprising at times."

Voldemort nodded. "I quite agree. Now, to discuss your ongoing training. Your school marks have been quite impressive so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what OWL results you get. I want you to continue those marks if you can please, and I'll speak with Lucius and Severus regarding stepping up yours and Draco's Dark Arts lessons. You need to be trained to be a leader and Draco needs to be trained to be your right hand. I know you'll be the leader of my intelligence division but I'll also train you in strategy and other things so if I by some mischance do die, you'll be able to take over the Death Eaters and carry on our work. Draco will also receive some of that training as well, in order to take his father's place if you have to take mine. I will explain how I managed to survive as a spirit all those years ago as well. For now though, I will tell you that Fudge and Umbridge died very painfully and very slowly, their mangled bodies were hung up over the entrance to the Ministry building last night. Rufus Scrimgeour is going to be the new Minister of Magic, and he is our neutral ally."

"Neutral ally Master?" Raiden asked, puzzled.

Voldemort nodded. "Yes. He is on our side as long as we stick to our revised goals. The moment he gets any hint that we're still doing our mass muggle killings and other such things, he will join our enemies and mobilize the Ministry against us. We don't want that so I will be announcing at the next meeting that all muggle killings will stop, and I will explain our new goals."

Raiden nodded thoughtfully. "What happens if the Death Eaters don't like that? I know that the more fanatical ones will die before changing their views. They view muggle torture as sport for Merlin's sake."

Voldemort sighed. "If you have an idea of how to get rid of them then by all means please do share" he said sarcastically. Raiden smirked and leaned forward. "Well, I do have one idea" he said. As he outlined his plan, Voldemort's smirk grew larger and larger. It would take time to implement, and careful planning to weed out the truly fanatical, unchangeable Death Eaters but over time, all the Death Eaters that did not agree with the revised goals would be removed and no longer able to be threats. Raiden spent that night at Riddle Manor, as it had grown late during their meeting. When the two Dark Lords finally went to bed, they both had smiles on their faces as they saw for the first time that their plan to change the wizarding world was actually achievable.