Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; J.K. Rowling does. I do, however, own this story's plot!
Chapter 19
The Dark Lord's … Ball
It was now the second week of August – just a good two weeks before the young witches and wizards returned to Hogwarts for their next school semester. The Malfoy's Summer Solstice Ball passed without any trouble, however, with the exception of the Fudge's flippant attitude towards Harry, the Gryffindors could clearly see the Slytherins holding back Draco from giving Fudge a piece of his mind. Even Lucius seemed to be at his wit's end – his smile growing colder and colder with each passing second and his remarks becoming more heavily laced with sarcasm, sarcasm that the Minister of Magic did not catch. But when Harry overheard from Lucius about children from pureblood families having an arranged marriage – Harry stared long and hard at Draco and Blaise – silently and angrily demanding an answer.
Draco and Blaise, with the help of Lucius and Gwendolyn, explained that while the parents of pureblood children did have arranged marriages, they themselves did not – or at least had not until after they had decided to date Harry with hopes of marrying him. It was then that their parents decided their arranged marriage was null and void – thereby ridding of the contract between the arranged families. Not that Draco or Blaise minded, because they had been arranged with their childhood friends Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass, respectively, but both girls only liked the boys as brothers – and with a little persuasion, the girls' parents ended the contract with little to no consequences.
Though, Harry had no intention of forgiving this early.
"Oh come on Harry. Are you still angry at us?" Draco frowned.
"I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed." The green-eyed teen replied.
"Disappointed?"
"That the both of you didn't tell me anything."
"We thought it was of no importance to you; we didn't think you should know about it." Blaise explained.
"So you and Draco thought that the fact that both of you were in an arranged marriage – "
"That was overruled." Draco cut in, and Harry shot a glare at the blonde for interrupting.
"… that was overruled," Harry bit out, " would not be important enough for me to know? You don't think that I should've known about this?"
"Is that why you're upset?"
"Yes."
Draco and Blaise sighed together before sitting on either side of Harry and each taking his hand in their own.
"We should've told you in the first place." Draco started. "No matter how insignificant or important it was."
"We should have known that because you did not grow up in the magical world, you would not know of the old and traditional ways us pureblood grew up with." Blaise continued.
"And for that, we're sorry." They chimed in.
Harry pouted once more before turning to look at them. "Are you really sorry?"
"Yes." Draco answered.
"Most definitely." Blaise nodded.
"Really, really sorry?" Harry asked once more.
His boyfriends nodded once more.
"Then you will tend to my every will for the next couple of days." Harry beamed before getting up from his seat.
Draco's jaw dropped. "Malfoys donot – " He started, but Blaise punched him in the chest to stop his sentence. The olive-skinned teen had seen Harry's jaw working and clenching tightly together, and to save Draco's skin – well, more like save his own skin – he had to stop the blonde before Draco said anything stupid.
"We'd be happy to do it." Blaise smiled.
"And!"
"And…?" Draco asked warily.
"The both of you must fill out a marriage contract with me."
"We can do that." Blaise laughed.
Harry nodded his head and walked out of the room.
Draco scowled at Blaise and rubbed his chest. "What did you do that for?"
"Do you want Harry to stay mad at you for the rest of the summer?"
The blond scoffed. "He would've forgiven me – his Gryffindor tendencies and all."
Blaise cuffed Draco upside the head and shook his head. "Think more carefully before you say something next time."
Draco frowned before nodding in acceptance.
.
.
.
.
.
It was during this week that the adults decided to train them in how to master wandless magic. After all, once an enemy takes your wand away or you lose it in battle, how would you defend yourself from an attack?
The group started from the very basic incantations and worked up from there. Even the simplest of spells took a while for half of the group to complete.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
One by one they chanted the spell and waited for the glass cup before them to levitate into the air.
With a flick of his finger, Harry was able to levitate the glass cup from the table. It was a bit wobbly on the way over to him, but the cup made it over and Harry quickly grasped it from the air before it fell to the ground and shattered.
Draco and Blaise followed closely behind him – their own cups wiggling about in the air at a slower rate than Harry's cup did. But in the end, they were able to achieve it. The adults looked on with approval as well as the Guardians before leaving Tom to supervise the trio while the rest went around helping the rest of the group.
Though Hermione was a muggleborn, she was able to complete this feat two minutes or so after the trio did. Soon after her were Fred, George, Ginny, Pansy, Theo, and Crystal. Ron, Neville, Crabbe and Goyle had trouble completing the task – Ron because he got frustrated very easily, Neville because he didn't believe in himself to do it, Crabbe and Goyle because they didn't put enough effort into it. Not only did the quartet have trouble, but Dudley and Petunia did as well. It was because their magical core only happened to open just that summer and they didn't have enough experience in or with magic to fully grasp wandless magic. Therefore, it took longer for them to pull it off – something that seemed hopeless for them in the first place. But they understood the dangers of losing their wands and being unable to defend themselves against an attack, so they worked even harder and even longer to execute the spells.
A few days later, the group slowly moved up in regards to the level of spells they could use wandless magic with.
"Flipendo!" Hermione shouted, knocking back the incoming pillowcase heading towards her.
"Are you ready for something heavier?" Remus asked. Hermione nodded her head and the pair advanced onto more substantial items.
"Engorgio!" Ginny flicked her hand and the beanbag chair before her increased in size. She jumped onto it, sighing with happiness at the softness of the material and the chair itself. The redhead decided to lie back and relax after several hours of training.
"Reparo!" Theo muttered, fixing a page in the notebook he was holding.
"Accio notebook!" Draco said, grinning wickedly at Theo when the Slytherin looked at him with a scowl.
"Protego!" Ron yelled, blocking an incoming stunner from Sirius.
"Focus Ron! That was just a weak stunner and your shield already broke down. Again." Sirius ordered, waiting for the redhead male to adjust his posture before throwing another stunner at him.
"Incendio!" Neville uttered, watching a flame flicker alive on the candlestick.
"Not bad Neville." The twins chorused, before wandlessly summoning more candlesticks before the Gryffindor. "Keep going." They encouraged, watching as Neville repeatedly lighted a flame, wandlessly, onto the candle.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Don't get so cocky Harry. Just because I allow you to disarm me, doesn't mean you're stronger than I am." Tom reminded the teen. Harry only scoffed before readying his stance and choosing another spell.
"Incarcerous!" Dudley chanted, ropes flying appearing of thin air to wrap around the training dummy in front of him.
Petunia, on the other hand, decided to cut away all the ropes her son had created with a "Diffindo!" before the two of them decided to swap spells and do the same thing all over again.
Crabbe and Goyle decided to go with "Geminino", not knowing that Sirius had played a small prank on them to have their copied items split even more once touched. That was the reason why the group grew flustered at the multitude of duplicated items that spun out of control when bounced upon another. It took two hours for the teens to undo the spell and clean their training room up, while Lucius took his sweet time and spent over half an hour berating his fiancé that they, as adults, were supposed to be training the students, not creating messes for them to clean up.
All in all, Draco, Harry and Blaise took to wandless magic quickly while the rest of the group stumbled along the way. But Ron had complained it was because they were gods now – Hermione smacked him upside the head, harping on that it was because he refused to practice more. Therefore, most of the week was spent on wandless magic training – not that they didn't zoom through their review of the schoolwork. They had been separated into smaller groups with one adult in each group to teach them how to use wandless magic and to focus their studies on the core subjects. It was then that Harry began to become curious.
"Lucius?"
"Yes Harry?"
"Are there other classes besides these that we can learn?"
"There are quite a few other classes that Hogwarts does not include in its curriculum if that is what you mean."
Harry nodded his head. "Why aren't they included?"
Tom happened to overhear their conversation and brought his group along with him to join in – busying the groups to practice with each other while he, Lucius and Harry had a nice chat.
"It was when your prestigious headmaster took his position at Hogwarts that the classes were removed from the curriculum. There used to be a healing course, alchemy, flying –"
"But we do have flying already, with Madame Hooch."
Tom narrowed his eyes at Harry's interruption. "I meant actual flying. Did you think it was impossible? No, I was able to accomplish that feat. Only that fool of a headmaster thought it was dark magic so it was banned. Now where was I? Oh yes, besides healing, alchemy and flying, there is also the study of wards, rituals, blood magic and many others."
"How are we going to implement them back into the curriculum?"
"The first step is to get rid of your esteemed Headmaster. He will never allow for the classes to return if he's in power.
"He preaches house unity but favors Gryffindors." Theo spat.
The trio turned to see everyone else gathered around them. It seemed studies and wandless magic training had finished for the time being. Everyone seemed to be more interested in their little conversation.
"It's true. In all of our years at Hogwarts, do you ever hear or see him do anything to promote house unity? No, those stupid 'friendly house games' during the start of Quidditch season doesn't count." Theo growled, when Ron opened his mouth to speak.
Ron closed him mouth and flushed in embarrassment.
"He was a Gryffindor during his time at Hogwarts." Neville piped up.
"Doesn't matter. He's a hypocrite, making the Slytherins look bad by one-upping us in the house cup."
"Are you still upset about that?" Ginny laughed.
"It was not fair that he added all those points to have Gryffindor come up from behind Slytherin. We worked hard for those points only to lose it to you guys in the end." Pansy sniffed.
"We could use what happened these past five years to take him down." Hermione suggested.
"What do you mean what happened these past five years?" Snape asked.
"You didn't think we earned those points at the end of the year for free did you?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What did you think those 'services to the magical community' were?"
"Include what happened at the Dursleys as well." Ron and the twins interrupted, remembering their second year when they went to fetch Harry from his relatives.
"I think the bit about Dumbledore stealing money from Harry's vaults would suffice as well." Sirius joined in.
"So we got him on all angles?" Blaise asked.
"Possibly, but Tom and I will tie up some loose ends and I'll subtly hint to Fudge about this to get him started on the case." Lucius nodded. "But, I expect to hear about your services to the magical community. After all, I am a part of the Hogwarts Board of Governors."
The group spent the rest of their day throwing out ideas and compiling everything together to start the fall of one Albus Dumbledore.
When Lucius had heard about the Golden Trio's little adventures, his face grew flushed with bristling anger and his eyes had this killer gleam in it as he scribbled down every single detail that was told to him.
"What do you mean there was a three headed dog on the Third Floor Forbidden Corridor?"
"You see, Hagrid raised a three-headed dog and named him Fluffy. Dumbledore set him up as the first line of defense before you jump through a trap door to land in a pile of Devil's Snare. After that was the flying keys, real life wizard's chess, the troll and then the potions." Ron ticked off one by one. "Then Harry reached the end and there was Professor Quirrell who was possessed by… well… you… and found that through the Mirror of Erised, he realized he was in possession of the Philosopher's Stone."
"That was your first year?" Sirius asked incredulously. The Golden Trio nodded their heads.
"Not to mention the troll Professor Quirrell let in to distract the professors and get a head start in finding the Philosopher's Stone."
"And did you know what Dumbledore did when he heard that the troll was loose in the dungeons? He told the prefects to take us all back to our dormitories." Blaise cracked up.
"And guess where the Slytherins' dormitories were." Pansy deadpanned.
"The dungeons." They all chorused.
"That lunatic of a headmaster was going to send the Slytherins towards the troll loose in the dungeons?!" The air around the head of the Malfoy family crackled ominously.
"Oh, but there's four more years to go through." Draco drawled.
"Second year was Tom's," Tom hissed at the use of his muggle name,"…dairy." Ginny continued. "I was possessed and opened the Chamber of Secrets, which let loose the basilisk." Remus's eyes seemed to bug out of his head at that information. "Oh! But don't worry! Harry took him out. I mean, the basilisk's fang puncture a hole in his arm, but Fawkes came and healed him."
"And where did you acquire my dairy?" Tom asked.
"It was my fault, My Lord." Lucius got up from his seat, bowing in apology to the Dark Lord.
"Be grateful I now view you as a friend Lucius and not my subordinate any longer." Tom snapped. "The next time however, will end up with a punishment."
"Thank you, My Lord." Lucius said gratefully, sitting back down.
"So the two of you went down into the Chamber of Secrets alone?" Severus asked.
"Of course not! We brought Lockhart with us, considering he was DA professor for the year. But then, we found out he was a fraud." Harry admitted.
"A fraud?" Tom asked.
"Yes. When we found him, he was already flustered and packing to leave. He was going to leave Ginny down there to die. But Harry and I had our wands on him before he could pull his out, and so we marched him towards the entrance of the chamber." Ron explained.
"We made him go down there first." Harry said. "Better him than us."
"Then, he supposedly 'fainted' at the large basilisk skin down there and stole my wand off me. Lockhart admitted to having obliviated all those witches and wizards whose true stories he stole from. He even said he would obliviated us, leave Ginny there to die while he became a hero for having tried to save her, but only to fail because of us." Ron growled.
"Oh yeah. That reminds me, Tom do you want it?" Harry asked.
"It is not mine anymore Harry. You do with it as you please." The wizard said, waving away the raven's concern.
"Oh, okay." Harry smiled. "That's good, considering I've given some parts to Severus."
"I know Harry. I was there when you gave the parts to him." Tom drawled, making Harry smile grow bigger.
"I'll have Dumbledore down for allowing degenerate and despicable applicants to apply for any position at Hogwarts and for having miscreants teach students when they could not teach for – " Lucius snarled.
"I think you should stop while you're ahead Luce." Sirius said, patting his fiancé to calm him down.
"Third year was the Dementors and Sirius's escape from Azkaban." Remus supplied.
The students nodded their heads. "Harry and I used a time turner to save two lives – Sirius's and Buckbeak's. Harry had to use the Patronus charm to ward off over a hundred Dementors."
"You casted a corporal Patronus charm? In your third year at only thirteen years old?!" Severus was shocked.
"I had to! The Dementors would've kissed Sirius! His soul would've been sucked out!" Harry cried exasperatedly. "Besides, Remus taught me how to."
"Remus?"
"Yes?"
"You taught Harry how to cast the Patronus charm?"
"Of course. You should've seen him Sirius. On the train to Hogwarts, Dementors entered and Harry was down for the count. I had to use the charm to prevent the Dementor from taking his soul."
"Then there was the Quidditch match where the Dementors got too close to Harry and he plummeted a good hundred feet."
"Harry could've died, but Dumbledore used a spell to stop him from falling."
"It's the lack of wards I tell you! There's no way Hogwarts' wards are that weak! They're supposed to be stronger than ever! Remember the troll incident? A troll wouldn't have gotten in if the wards were in top form."
"It must be Dumbledore's doing then." Remus sighed.
"Back to the situation at hand… You mean the two of you went and saved the bloody chicken?! And a mass murderer whom was rumored to be after you, Harry?!" Draco hissed.
Harry nodded his head and let out a weak chuckle before dropping it when he saw Draco's face gave a no-nonsense expression.
"Why couldn't Dumbledore have saved Sirius?"
"Because, he wanted Sirius to stay on the run, away from the Ministry's eyes. If Sirius was found innocent, Dumbledore's plans would've gone awry and Sirius would have custody over me. He wanted to prevent me from being in a loving home and so Sirius had to stay at the top of the Ministry's wanted list." Harry said.
"Well fourth year, we don't have to explain what happened. Everyone knows what went down."
"How are we going to use that against Dumbledore?" Neville asked.
The group fell silent as everyone tried to think up of a way to add Harry's fourth year into the evidence.
"Did you know," Crystal piped up, "that the Supreme Mugwump, otherwise known as the head of the International Confederation of Wizards, and or the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot can overrule the magical contract created by the Goblet of Fire?" Crystal smiled.
Everyone turned to look at her in shock. "What are those looks for?! I read up on things you know!"
"So he left me to compete in that competition known to kill its competitors when I'm only fourteen years old?! He wanted me to be a part of Tom's resurrection?!" Harry shouted, gripping his fork in anger. His magic pulsed around him and the fork creaked as it bent at a ninety-degree angle.
Remus's eyes had flashed amber and stayed its color for quite a while throughout the conversation.
"Oh, that reminds me." Harry said. "Ludo Bagman was trying to cheat for me. He said if I needed any help at all, that he would assist me. Of course, I found out he was betting on me, and that he was cheating the goblins of their gold."
"I'm sure the goblins at Gringotts would love to hear about this." Lucius promised. "Especially since he is the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. So much for sportsmanship."
"You know, he owes Forge and I some gold as well."
"Swindled us out of our money he did! Using Leprechaun gold on us and Lee."
"This is excellent. The more we have on everyone else, the more powerful we will be. Always several steps ahead of everyone." Tom nodded in approval.
"And fifth year was when Umbitch became the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Then came the Inquisitorial Squad, and did you know? She used blood quills on all the students in detention!" The twins' jaws were set in anger. "Show them Harry! Show them what that bitch did to you!"
Harry slowly and reluctantly lifted his right hand up and watched as the light caught upon the light scar on his skin. Though he had gone through his magical inheritance, he willed the remnants of the scarred tissue onto the surface of his hand. After everyone had a good look at it, the scarred tissue faded away, leaving clear skin on the surface of his hand.
"And you know… I wasn't the only one to be put under the Blood quills…" Harry whispered. "Everyone was – students who defied Umbridge's rules, disliked her ideas and went against the Ministry. Even students in first year used Blood quills during detention."
Draco paled in horror. He had been a part of the Inquisitorial Squad during Umbridge's reign of terror at Hogwarts. He had to be partially to blame for Harry's scars.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Harry." Draco choked with tears in his eyes, grabbing Harry's hand and rubbing lightly across the scar – the words burned into his mind.
Sirius whistled in anger like a kettle before stalking out of the dining room for a few minutes.
With Draco's multitude of apologies, as well as the rest of the Slytherins who joined, Harry had to get them to settle down – though, they only accepted Harry's forgiveness when Harry reluctantly agreed to them owing him several favors.
Sirius returned, tucking his wand into his holster.
"You need a new Qing Dynasty flower vase in the hallway Luce." The wizard stated gruffly, but Lucius could care less about the priceless artifact. Harry, practically his future son-in-law, had been exploited to such a degree that he didn't have any words of comfort for the boy.
"None of the professors knew about the Blood Quills you know. And when they did, they did nothing because Umbridge threatened that they would be defying the Minister's words and beliefs. Though Professor McGonagall tried to one up Umbitch, she stepped down when that pink pug said McGonagall was pushing her limits."
"Then came the fight at the Ministry of Magic." Luna spoke up. "And we all know what happened there."
"What happened?" Theo asked.
"We fought against some Death Eaters because they were going after the prophecy and we ended up fighting in a room where the Veil was hidden in."
"I almost fell in, but Harry pushed me out of the way." Sirius shuddered at the thought of falling through.
"What did the prophecy say?"
"It said: 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 will mark him as his equal, but he will have the 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…"
"Now you tell me the prophecy?" Tom was not amused.
"I didn't want to repeat it. I've had to repeat my school years three times already." Harry said exasperatedly. "Three times!"
"Other than that, here we are!" Luna giggled.
"Here you guys are…" Blaise trailed off, looking at the Gryffindors in a new light.
"Hey… you guys are being very quiet." Crystal said, turning to look at the Guardians.
"It's just… we weren't able to protect the little one. And, after all he's been through…" Macaire sniffled.
"We'll kill him – rip him limb from limp." Alandair snarled, anger flashing wildly in his eyes.
"We will do no such thing." Egidio ordered.
Tesia made to object before she was interrupted. "It is Harry's decision on what to do with the old man. It is none of our concern. It wouldn't be fair to Harry if we took his death upon us. I believe Harry wishes to dispose of the man by himself with his own means."
Snape had sputtered incoherently when he found out that the Gryffindors, bar Luna until her fourth year, had risked their lives every year just because Dumbledore was unable to help them in any way. Harry had to move besides Remus because Moony wouldn't have it any other way. Tom's eyes grew murderous as his grin grew more sadistic – no doubt planning all the ways he could get back at the old Headmaster.
Then it brought up several questions. Why did the Headmaster require three first year students to take down Professor Quirrell – who was possessed by Voldemort at the time? As strong as Dumbledore was, he was unable to protect any of his students when it mattered. There was definitely something suspicious about how the Magical world portrayed Dumbledore to be – it's no wonder everyone looked up to Dumbledore like he was Merlin himself.
"So to sum it all up…" Crabbe began.
"Dumbledore set everything up to test your strengths?" Goyle finished.
The Gryffindors nodded their heads.
"You would think the leader of the light was powerful enough to take down the Dark Lord, but no. He puts his faith on a prophecy and on an infant who just happens to survive the killing curse." Blaise scoffed.
"You would think that he'd start your magical training early on rather than leaving you at that muggle's home."
"He wanted me to latch onto the first person who actually ever cared about me. And that happened to be Hagrid when he came to take me away at the house on the rocks by the sea."
"The house on the rocks by the sea?" Pansy repeated.
"Long story short, Vernon thought Dumbledore was watching them daily and so when the letters about my coming to Hogwarts came every day nonstop, he moved all of us far, far away in hopes of having little reach to us. Sadly, it didn't work. So he sent Hagrid to retrieve me. That was when Hagrid started talking all about magic, the magical world, and how Slytherins were bad and how Tom was in Slytherin and that Dumbledore was the strongest wizard ever to live."
"Playing on a child's need of comfort and love. That manipulative old bastard." Sirius clenched his fists.
"Tell us about your childhood Harry." Lucius probed.
Yet, when it came to Harry's abusive situation, the boy in question was reluctant to reveal his past. Dudley and Petunia looked down at the floor flushed and feeling ashamed of themselves. All eyes were pinned to the duo when Harry stuttered through his story – his eyes filling up with unshed tears at having to finally have someone to talk to about it.
"I was left out on the doorstep of 4 Privet Drive that night…" Harry began.
Lucius gripped his snake cane firmly, knuckles turning white. "How could he leave a child out on a cold night like that? What if something happened to you?" He hissed.
Harry laughed before shrugging. "I guess he didn't think about that. After all, he probably believed the blood wards were more important in protecting me than the cold weather. As far as I can remember, I've been doing the work meant for house elves."
"They made you their personal slave?" Hermione hissed, her chocolate brown eyes gleaming in fury as she turned to pierce her gaze at the duo shuffling in their seats.
"Cooking, cleaning, dusting, laundry… you name it, I did it. I was probably four when I started. I couldn't even reach the stove so I had to drag a chair there every time."
The room grew colder and the tension elevated. Dudley and Petunia felt shivers run down their spine as they moved their chairs to huddle up closer together.
"Soon came the punishments."
"Punishments?" Sirius breathed out, as if he had never heard of the word before.
"I had several moments of accidental magic occurring. First was turn my teacher's hair blue, then it was apparating to the school's rooftop when Dudley and his… friends… started playing Harry hunting. After that, several incidents occurred at home and I was to blame. Vernon would hit me you know. Back hand, slap me, cuff me on the head, throw me against my cupboard door and lock me in there with no food to eat for the rest of the night. Small stuff like that lead up to much harsher punishments as I grew older."
The twins started muttering to themselves as they jotted stuff down onto their little notepad. Only Ron could feel their murderous intent when he overheard their mutterings of "poison laced foods" and even "miniature bombs set to explode" if the fat man were to ever swallow one of them.
Dudley and Petunia did not even look sheepish. They knew they were guilty of all the things Harry was saying. They knew they could not make it up to him – but they hoped he could forgive them and they would move past this entire thing. Clearly speaking about it was hard for Harry, and the murderous atmosphere in the dining room spoke for the rest of the residents living at the manor.
"I spent the first eleven years of my life thinking my parents died in a car crash, you know. Because they thought magic was abnormal – that I was a freak. Vernon tried to beat the freakishness out of me multiple times, but it wouldn't work. It actually made my magic try to protect me more – which made his punishments last even longer."
Sirius made several choking gestures with his hands as his eyes looked far beyond the room. Remus flexed his hands, reveling at the slight sharpening of his claws. Hermione choked on her tears while Ron patted her shoulder in comfort. If they had only looked carefully at Harry, they would have seen the bruises he tried to cover up each year. They should have been able to see how skinny Harry was and how little food he ate – but they were only selfish. They only thought of themselves when it came to Harry's health. Ron and Hermione had believed in every word Dumbledore had told them – saying that Harry and his cousin only roughed up and that boys were boys because of this.
Then their sadness became anger. How dare that man manipulate Harry in such a way; even before he was a student at Hogwarts! They vowed to themselves that they would support Harry in every decision and watch his back.
Severus seemed to be rummaging through his potions bag – the only sound of clinking glass vials sounding in the room besides Harry's voice. No doubt the look in his eyes proved that he was thinking of creating some toxin that would kill the man that Harry had once lived with.
"Were you ever starved Harry?" Remus asked tentatively.
Harry could only nod his head. Severus immediately placed four vials in front of Harry, telling him to drink each one right after he had his dinner. Though the young wizard had put on weight and muscles since staying with the Malfoys, Severus thought he would need more nutrition in order to fully if not at least gain the physique he should have gotten compared to the rest of the young male wizards. The emerald-eyed boy smiled in thanks. He placed a hand upon Blaise's and Draco's clenched ones, calming them down to prevent Blaise from leaking the black mist and to prevent Draco from releasing any more electricity.
"We'll take care of him for you Harry." Sirius promised.
Tom nodded his head at that as he twirled his wand in between his fingers, his eyes glowing a particularly eerier red.
Tears started to drop from Harry's eyes. He feverishly tried to wipe them away but they kept falling. Blaise and Draco clamored around him, trying to relieve Harry of his sadness. While some of Harry's tears were of relief, the rest of Harry's tears were tears of happiness. Someone was finally listening and understanding and hearing his voice! No longer will he have to return to 4 Privet Drive any more; his family was here, right in front of him, with him now.
.
.
.
.
.
At last, the next event the group was to attend made them feel a bit more anxious – the Dark Lord's Death Eater party.
There was in no way the young witches and wizards would know what would happen at the event. They were, after all, going to be attending with Death Eaters – people who are loyal to the Dark Lord and his cause; people who held much hatred against Harry and anyone who was not of pureblood status as the Dark Lord did, or in this case, had.
So, it was quite sensible for Hermione, the Weasleys and the rest of the Gryffindors, and ex-Gryffindors, to be feeling on guard as they walked around the ballroom – their eyes swerving at each and every direction, with their hands twitching every few seconds to pull their wands from their holsters if necessary.
They had entered through the huge double doors leading towards the ballroom. The doors creaked open ominously, drawing the room's occupants' attention towards them. The decorations, or lack thereof, made the social affair even more serious and had a general sense of gloom and doom; the cold atmosphere did nothing to dissolve the feeling. The curtains were drawn closed over the windows and had been spelled black for the occasion. The lights were dimmed all around the ballroom and there was no noise other than the clacking of heels and shoes against the white and black checkered marble floor. All the Death Eaters had their eyes pinned on the group, narrowed in suspicion, hate and even promises of death.
The only ones that seemed to be comfortable with the Gryffindors' presence were Severus and Lucius. The wizards were openly chatting with the group, trying to draw them out from their shell, but their efforts were lost – seeing as how the tension in the room kept escalating and building.
The doors to the ballroom creaked open once more and the Death Eaters knelt onto their knees, bowing to the Dark Lord's arrival. They waited until Tom had sat at his throne on the dais before standing up when told to.
"My Lord." They murmured.
"Is there something you wish to ask me about?"
"What are they doing here?" Bellatrix asked. "They, whom are against your cause and the reason we fight in this war." She hissed.
Tom raised an eyebrow at the question before he smiled. "Why do you question me and not our guests?"
Bellatrix snarled as she turned to face the Gryffindors, her wand poised to aim and fire spells at the group. As she did so, several other Death Eaters followed her lead.
The Gryffindors pulled their wands and held them steady, ready for the slightest twitch in their opponents' bodies.
"Tom, aren't you going to do anything about this?" Harry asked curiously.
Bellatrix hissed at the mention of Voldemort's muggle name. "How dare you speak to the Dark Lord like that! Who do you think you are you filthy half blood!"
Harry smiled lazily at her. "I think I'm Harry Potter."
Tom only looked on with a smile, though the small flicker in his eyes knew that he did not approve of Bellatrix bringing up blood status when he himself was a half blood. 'Entertain me." He stated, before sweeping off towards the throne on the dais.
As if granted permission, all the Death Eaters threw spell after spell towards the group.
"Neville, Luna." Harry ordered. The pair stepped up front and threw up a shield – watching as it merged together and formed solidly in front of them. All the spells seemed to bounce right off, knocking into other spells, which seemed to set off a reaction – prohibiting the Death Eaters from inching forward.
Bellatrix snarled in anger, darker spells thrown towards the young group. Lucius and Severus stepped towards them, but were motioned to stand down by their Dark Lord. It was a sort of test, they realized, that the Dark Lord had come up with on the spot – to see if the young Gryffindors and Slytherins were worthy of the cause, were strong enough to take down a bunch of witches and wizards whom had years of experience on them. Sirius looked down at the fight with a large grin while Remus had to cover his son's ears from the sudden loud noise. Nonetheless, Teddy seemed to enjoy seeing all the colors flying across the room if his cooing and outstretched grasping hands were any indication of his enjoyment.
Even Egidio had the Guardians stand down. He wanted to see the Guardian to see for themselves how strong their training had affected the young ones – and he wanted to see for himself whether or not they were ready for more intensive training.
"Ready…." Harry spoke up; the Golden Trio and the rest of the Weasley teenagers' wands dropped to their hands. "Attack!"
Neville and Luna immediately dropped their shield to help aid the Golden Trio's attacks while the twins and Ginny set apart disarming them. Seeing their plan, the Slytherins split into two separate groups to do the same, though Crabbe, Goyle, Dudley and Petunia threw up shields whenever a stray spell was sent flying towards them – as they were better with defensive spells than offensive ones.
Because the Death Eaters were more focused on the spells thrown towards them, they didn't notice Harry, Draco and Blaise stepping back to channel their powers from the Gods.
Harry took a deep breath before raising his outstretched hand towards the Death Eaters. Focusing on those in his line of sight, he slowly closed his hand and fisted them, watching in delight and fascination as the Death Eaters clawed at their skin at the sudden rise in body temperature. Only when they were boiling hot and bright red did Harry yank his hand towards his body to collapse the Death Eater's bodies to the ground.
A quick flash of lightning whizzed through Draco's eyes, exhibiting the start of his powers. The static all around the blond could be seen as it crackled in the space around the young wizard, appearing and disappearing whenever it collided with another forming spark. Opening his fist, a lightning bolt appeared as the temperature in the room got hotter. Draco threw the lightning bolt in a small space between a large group of Death Eaters, knocking them all unconscious as the marble floor burst into debris and rubble.
Blaise took pride in his power as black mist floated from his open hands, drifted down towards the marble floor and slid towards the Death Eaters. He fed on their screams and on their fears, their rapid heartbeats and accelerated breathing. The mist travelled through the entire room, turning the room into an icy and cold temperature.
Finally, joining their hands together, the three young wizards threw an electrified water orb emitting the dark mist towards Bellatrix. Once hit, the witch screeched noisily towards the ceiling. Her wand clattered towards the ground as the body dropped towards the floor.
"Did you kill her?" Ginny asked, toeing the body when no more Death Eaters were willing to fight them.
Harry smirked. "You can restart her heart, but make it quick. She only has three minutes before she dies."
Neville snorted when Draco snapped his fingers – the tip of his index finger glowing with electricity. The blond walked up towards his deranged aunt and pressed his finger upon her chest – right above the heart – several times before the witch coughed and gasped with the sudden intake of breath.
"You owe Harry a life debt." Draco growled before walking back to the group.
"Anyone else have anything to say to us?" Harry asked, his eyes glowing an eerie AK green.
The room was silent as the Death Eaters shuffled further away from them without any subtlety. Lucius, Severus, Sirius and Remus moved towards the group again. Teddy gurgled in delight when Harry entered his vision – apparently the baby took no note of the strained atmosphere.
"Take them away to be healed. Let this be a warning to you all – if you go against the young Gryffindors and Slytherins, they have my permission to kill you. I have no need for those who are useless and worthless." Tom stated, waving several Death Eaters to take away the unconscious bodies of the rest of the attackers.
"Let this ball begin, no?" Tom smiled and with a flick of his wand, music played throughout the room. Yet, the tension was still there. Even with the fight over and done with, the Death Eaters were frightened of the students – those who could take down a dozen Death Eaters, especially Bellatrix, and live to tell the tale were impossibly strong in their books. And so, most of the gossip amongst the group were of them – the students who were not marked by the Dark Lord, yet were loyal to their cause – especially the Gryffindors and the Boy-Who-Lived as their leader.
Though Tom had a surprise that he did not tell the large cluster of students – every summer ball, he and the rest of the Death Eaters would be introduced to the potential Death Eaters – students that were around the same age as Harry and his group. They would find out in the end though, because in order to be selected as future Death Eaters loyal to his cause, they had to under a test.
.
.
.
.
.
"Come my followers. It is now time to meet the new recruits." Tom announced.
One by one, the Death Eaters parted like a wave, opening the center of the ballroom for the recruits to walk through. Harry and his friends moved up towards Tom's dais, leaving Lucius and Snape to stand amongst the Death Eaters. Sirius and Remus stood off to the side with Teddy in tow.
Tom waved his hand and black cloaks draped over Harry and the others, hiding their faces. Even the Death Eaters were wearing their Death Eater gear, the full cloak and mask on – hiding their identity. Though, Harry did not enjoy being labeled as a part of Tom's group and so, with a wave of his hand, he turned his friends' and Sirius and Remus's cloak a blood red with a white gold Celtic dragon chain clasp. Even little Teddy had his own blood red cloak, though he had a golden wolf as a clasp.
Looking as formidable as they possibly could, Harry and the Gryffindors stood to the left side while the Slytherins stood to the right. The two groups were made to look like an impenetrable defense for the Dark Lord sitting on the dais behind them. The aura radiating from the groups helped to form a scarier atmosphere around Tom – one that Tom happily and silently approved of.
Tom waved his hand once more, opening the doors of the ballroom to allow the new recruits in. The new recruits quickly walked through the center and knelt to the ground, facing the marble tiled floor. Of course, Draco and the rest of the Slytherins could identify some of those new faces. Even Hermione and Luna could. After all, they were the most attentive of the bunch. There were a handful of Gryffindors, two from Ravenclaw, three surprisingly from Hufflepuff and more than a dozen from Slytherin. There was Brandon Angel, Aiden O'Connor, Kate Stewart, Natalie Fairway and surprisingly Cormac McLaggen - who once identified had made Ron hiss silently and Hermione groan in annoyance. From Ravenclaw was Rebecca Seil and Grant Sanders. From Hufflepuff came Jamie and Lysander Chant, and even Zacharias Smith, who sent Ron into another silent but angry titter. From Slytherin came Daniel Rockwood, Layla Davie, Amy Hawk, Lucinda Shore, Carl Baddock and many more.
"You are here because you want to change the Wizarding World. You are here because you want to follow me and help change this regime. You are here because you want power. And I can give it to you." Tom promised, his voice resounding velvety off of the ballroom's walls.
"The time has come for Dumbledore's reign to fall. Though he states his position as the leader of light, the fighter of justice – he had done nothing to support his claims. He is only here for power, for superiority, to manipulate your dearly beloved Minister of Magic. But I hold equal power to Dumbledore. I can create a better world for all wizards and witches, all magical creatures. No longer will the magical community fear for our lives, no longer will injustice prevail. If I cannot do it, who will? If Dumbledore fights back, who can defend against his attacks? I ask you all again, will you stand by my side and fight along with me? Or will you turn your backs to this world like the cowards others are?"
"We live to serve you, My Lord." The Death Eaters chanted.
"We will join and fight for your cause." The recruits said as one.
"Not my cause – our cause." Tom corrected, before lifting his hand to allow the recruits to stand. Tom turned to look at Severus who nodded to him. The potions master had gone through each and every one of their heads; there was not a traitor in their midst.
"Come and receive your mark. The mark that will be remembered and go through history as the time of change and evolution." Tom said.
Harry and his friends doubled up in pairs, each pair standing on the dais – one step above the other. Draco and the Slytherins moved to copy the motion. Soon, a red carpet formed between the two groups, starting from Tom's throne and reaching the bottom of the dais. One by one the recruits stepped up onto the dais tentatively, their eyes flickering towards Harry and his friends – trying to see who was beneath that hood.
One by one the recruits received their mark – some of them whimpering upon the onslaught of pain, others silently and stoically taking the pain. Only once the last of the recruits joined the rest of the Death Eaters did Tom speak again.
"Welcome new recruits, to our worthy cause. Now many of you have noticed the people under the blood red cloaks – they are not to be trifled with. They do not answer to me, but instead are in partnership with me. They will help to bring about great development in our plans. And do not think that because they are not under my rule that you will get away with troubling them, because I can assure you," Tom got up at this part, "I will not be saving your skins when they dole out your punishments."
The Death Eaters murmured their understanding before Tom spoke once more. "Enjoy the rest of the ball. I have business to attend to." With that, he swept from the halls, followed by Harry and his group.
.
.
.
.
.
"Way to tell us about your new recruits." Harry said, pulling his hood off.
"Did you like the surprise?" Tom smirked.
"I thought your ball was just a party… though I kind of knew some of your followers would be here."
"It was a real eye-opener, wasn't it? Of course you know that the war will start even before you graduate from Hogwarts."
"But I didn't expect there to be spies all throughout Hogwarts."
"Really Harry, you can't be that oblivious." Hermione sighed.
"Mione's right Harry. The more spies there are at Hogwarts – the more we can watch Dumbledore's moves and save innocent lives. It's a win-win situation." Ron said, ever the strategist of the Golden Trio.
"These recruits will be the ears of their houses. Whoever wants to join will be notified and sent to me. Of course, the more we have on our side, the better I should say. But I promise you Harry, I'll try not to take innocent lives. But war is war – no one is really safe from harm. Only those with the power to protect themselves, with the will to live and survive will survive."
Harry grumbled, but he thought it was better than nothing. If he did not fight on Dumbledore's side, then there should be less casualties.
"Why did you change the color of your robes, Harry?" Tom inquired. The Dark Lord was not upset, he was merely curious at Harry's decision.
"Well, although we're working together, I don't want others to think of us as your subordinates, but rather as your equals – Draco, Blaise and I." Harry quickly amended when Tom narrowed his eyes. "So, I would like for us to be another group apart from your Death Eaters. I'll even come up with the name of the group, the outfits and everything."
Tom rubbed his chin in thought before acquiescing to Harry's choice. "Fine, but you will run it by me. I don't want anyone to think any less of my… friends." He said with difficulty. To Tom, there was no such thing as 'friends' or 'companions', only 'followers' and 'subordinates' or even 'slaves' and 'prisoners'. But when Harry entered his life – not when the teen was a baby and had him killed, Tom finally started to understand what it was like to have close relationships with someone other than his snake, Nagini.
"Got it." Harry said, willing to compromise with the wizard. And so, within the next two hours, Harry and his friends decided on being called Iudicium, meaning Judgment in Latin. They would each have their own black velvet cloaks with royal purple silk material on the inside, as well as dragonhide boots – all charmed with maximum protection from spells, jinxes, curses, and elemental spells. Whatever the group wanted to wear underneath the robes were purely up to them. And the good thing was, Egidio, Alandair, Macaire and Tesia, with the help of Luna, placed an enchantment on their cloaks' hood, so it could never be removed by other people except for themselves. Not only did those enchantments prevent any 'tampering', but it cloaked their voices and overshadowed their faces to prevent any forms of identity being reviewed.
The males would wear a white gold ring set that looked as if its layers overlapped one another, filled with diamonds, amethysts and lapis lazuli – charmed with a multitude of protection spells, charms and even blood magic. The females would wear a white gold ring set fully paved with a diamond motif with a purple chalcedony, two chrysoprases, and a black lacquere – like its male ring counterpart, it was also heavily protected. However, Harry had Snape also infuse the small diamonds and stones in their rings with antidotes to rid of any type of poison. Both the witches and wizards also had a pendant they wore around their neck to warn them of poisoned or tampered food and drinks that came their way. The girls were also heavily protected with their white gold earrings set with a ceramic ring where a panther figurine with black lacquer spots, onyx noses, tsavorite garnet eyes and diamonds sat regally.
Harry, along with Tom, Severus, Lucius, Sirius, and Remus had charmed the panthers into becoming real live panthers which would appear to protect the girls in times of need– Harry figured a little extra protection wouldn't hurt, and it certainly didn't put a dent in his vaults – not that anyone would allow him to do so. His friends did not permit him to pay for everything, considering all the presents he's given them before. And so, the price of the accessories and clothing were paid for equally amongst them all. Tom had even accepted their group name, so they were now called Iudicium during Tom's Death Eater meetings.
"Are we done for the day?" Severus droned – the amount of magic each person used to create such complicated charms was draining.
"Yes, we're done." Tom frowned. Although he allowed Severus and Lucius the benefit of being his closest confidants, and dare he say it, friends – he didn't like the tone the wizard used. Perhaps it was because he wasn't used to such a thing from someone whom he used to view as his subordinate and follower.
"Great! Come along Sirius! The wedding's next week! We still have so much to plan for!" Lucius beamed, dragging his silently pleading fiancé behind him. The teens snickered at Sirius's fearful gaze and Lucius's determined one.
"We'll never see them this week." Draco shook his head.
"Perhaps a break…?" Harry asked slyly.
"No." Severus automatically answered. Harry's pout was his retort to the potions master's answer.
"We will be teaching you while Lucius and Sirius are occupied. Harry, Draco, Blaise, the Guardians will train you. The three of you are already ahead of the rest of the group. Go train with them." Tom ordered.
The trio protested, but wilted under Alandair's wicked grin.
"Oh great." They sighed.
….
Hey guys! Sorry about the longest wait for an update, but I've had several ideas floating around for another Harry Potter story! Also, I'm extremely busy, and writer's block is not helping. I tend to write the story as inspiration comes to me – or add more details to certain scenes of the chapter. Therefore, I hope you all enjoy the story so far! There will be more to come soon!
Edited: April 2, 2017