Chapter 14: Raids
Harry stared down at the ugly piece of dark magic that was now etched onto his very core.
He hated it, hated what it stood for and hated the man it belonged to.
One day he would get rid of it, one day he would be free of the claiming mark.
On top of the mark Voldemort had told the twins of a raid they were going on.
It was on Christmas day, much to the twins disgust, they were to go with Lucius and several other Death Eaters to a home in kent.
The target was Maximus Bingly, who was a skilled politician that was actively pushing a legislation that the Dark Lord didn't want to be made legal, and his family.
There was to be no survivors, no dark mark left behind and it was to look like a random act of violence.
The thought of wiping out a family, especially one with a five month old baby and a six year old, just because of legislation made Harry pull on his hair in helplessness.
Was there really no end to Voldemort's cruelty?
Christmas day came and while they all tried to pretend it was just like any other christmas it was obvious that it wasn't.
There was a tension in the manor and an even worse tension between Narcissa and Lucius.
"I don't think she wanted us marked," Draco muttered to Harry as they dressed for Christmas lunch.
"Can't say I blame her," Harry grumbled.
"I've got a feeling that they're going to leave the killing to us," Draco sighed breeching the subject that had the manor tense.
Harry clenched his jaw but didn't deny his brother's words.
"There's a baby there, Hades," Draco breathed. "How can we kill a baby?"
Hadrian looked at Draco and saw the guilt at the mere thought of killing a baby.
"If it comes to it I'll kill the baby," he stated without an inch of emotion.
Draco looked at Harry with shock.
"It's obviously going to eat you alive, Draco. I'll do it," Harry sighed as he caught the look.
"We shouldn't have to do this," Draco whispered agonised.
"We have to if we want to stay alive and if we want to progress. Without progression we won't become the best and without being the best we'll be dead. Voldemort isn't forgiving, Draco. He likes that he has us under his thumb but if we show even an inch of disloyalty we'll be slaughtered,"
Draco sighed knowing his brother was right.
"Come on, we best go to lunch," he stated deciding it wasn't the time nor the place to be having such a conversation.
Later that night the two of them stood in full Death Eater uniform, their father and two other Death Eaters stood with them.
"Remember there can be no signs of struggle so this has to be done with stealth. Boys it's your job to take down the wards without alerting anyone inside. Our source outside the house says that the family have been in bed for at least two hours so we get in we kill them and then we get out. You two will primarily be the ones to lead the mission, the rest of us are only here in case you can't complete the mission," Lucius said addressing his sons more than the other two Death Eaters.
Harry and Draco nodded once and allowed themselves to be sideapparated to the location.
The street was dark and silent, from the vehicles parked outside the majority of the houses Harry decided it was a Muggle environment.
Lucius motioned for them to both step forwards and get to work on the wards.
The twins instantly cast detection spells not stupid enough to just estimate where the wards started.
"There's detection spells, muggle repellent spells and privacy spells. To be honest the only thing we need to take down are the detection spells," Harry murmured lowly to Draco.
Draco looked and shook his head.
"They're all knotted together, taking down only one will trip an alarm and taking them down in an incorrect order will trigger the alarm as well," Draco murmured flicking his wand a series of time.
"Do we know what order?" Harry asked biting his lip slightly.
He didn't have the flare for charms that Draco did. He knew Draco had a better handle on the warding because of that flare.
Draco concentrated for a moment longer before nodding.
"Repellent, detection, privacy," he said as he twisted his wand in an odd fashion.
There was a slight tremor of magic as the wards came down but unless you were looking for it you wouldn't have felt it.
Harry turned and nodded back to the group before walking with Draco towards the house.
Draco removed yet another detection spell on the perimeter of the house before he let himself in.
"We will wait here, for the pair of you," Lucius said softly.
Harry and Draco moved silently up the stairs.
"You go to the parents room, I'll get the kids," Harry muttered to Draco.
Draco looked at his brother heavily before nodding and heading towards the master bedroom.
Harry entered the nursery and after making sure the baby was in the cot he shot a killing curse at the tiny infant.
With a cold mask in place he headed across the hall to the six year old's bedroom.
The little girl was hugging a stuffed bear.
Breathing through his nose he cast the killing curse again.
His chest felt tight, the two innocents that he'd killed had their whole lives ahead of them. He felt bile in his throat but swallowed it down turning back to the hall to wait for Draco.
Draco entered the hall the same time that he did.
"Done?" Draco asked hoarsely.
Harry nodded stiffly before leading the way down the stairs.
Before anyone could ask what Harry was doing he headed into the cellar.
Draco stood at the top of the cellar stairs and watched with morbid curiosity.
Harry unscrewed the gas pipe slightly, the stench of gas rose and he quickly headed out of the cellar.
"What was that about?" Lucius demanded.
"The Lord wants this to look as inconspicuous as it can. Loosening the gas valve means that their deaths don't look suspicious. They merely appeared to have died from a gas leak," Harry said coolly.
Lucius was impressed by Harry's quick thinking.
As they headed back outside Draco put the wards back up.
It was as if they were never there.
Voldemort's glowing satisfaction with the raid was stiffling for the rest of the Christmas break and the boys were thrilled to be going back to school.
Neville and Blaise looked upon their friends when they entered the common room and grimaced at the coolness on both of the twins faces.
"You went on a raid then?" Neville said quietly, looking more haunted than what the twins had when they killed the muggles.
"I'm going for a walk," Harry said abruptly before walking out of the common room.
Draco sighed and looked at Neville.
"We did but we won't talk about it, Hulk. What we had to do, well it's no one's business but our own," Draco stated firmly.
Neville nodded looking like he was about to embrace the blonde to try and take away the pain.
Blaise sighed knowing that this was only the beginning.
Things would get much worse and the twins would be in the thick of it.
When Harry reentered the common room at three o'clock the next morning he was surprised to see Blaise still up, just looking into the fireplace.
"What are you doing up?" Harry asked sitting next to his friend.
"Couldn't sleep," Blaise murmured.
"Hulk and Watcher in the dorm?" Harry quizzed.
Blaise nodded before turning to Harry.
"Things won't get any better than this will they?" Blaise said bluntly.
Harry observed Blaise for a moment.
The truth of everything had obviously just hit Blaise.
"Not until someone takes Voldemort and Dumbledore down," he answered truthfully.
"Dumbledore?" Blaise asked in confusion.
"Every bit of corruption in the Ministry is there because Dumbledore allowed it. The old man has been in power far too long and it's gone to his head. He isn't light, he just likes people to think he is. If things are to get better there needs to be a new order and with Dumbledore around that won't happen," Harry stated.
"How do you figure that? I'm not saying I don't agree I just want to know what made you think of it," Blaise murmured.
"Because I have eyes, Blaise. If this was all truly the Dark Lord's fault then the years before he was reborn would have been full of sunshine and daisies but they weren't. Not for those of us that are dark anyway. We need equality not discrimination. Magic will die out without both light and dark but Dumbledore doesn't believe that, he thinks if he keeps introducing the mud bloods then they'll be enough population so that the lack of Dark Wizards won't affect it," Harry shrugged.
Blaise thought about it and the more he did the more he realised that Harry was right.
Dumbledore was just as much of an issue as Voldemort was.
"Don't worry about it now, mate. The game is still early and I get the feeling there's something in the shadows. All players need to be revealed before the game can be truly played," Harry said standing up.
"You going to bed?" Blaise asked.
Harry nodded.
"You should too, Sly. Focusing on things you can't change will only make you miss the things that you can change,"
Blaise shook his head and smiled at Harry ruefully.
He stood and followed the Malfoy up to the dorms.
He knew no matter which side of the war the twins stood on, he'd be right beside them.
AN: Another one down guys :) Bit of a dark one but as the war escalates darkness creeps in more than what light can.
cocobyrd87- Yeah ditto I'm afraid. The twins definitely can't find a break right now, the question is are they strong enough to handle it all like they think they can? :)
Dragons-Twilight1992 - More here :)
NCIS FTW - Mouldy Voldie definitely is horrid. If he's involved you can definitely expect things to turn nasty. Bloody git :)