Harry Potter weighed the book in his hand.
A friend from the history department had given it to him with the comment that he really should read that.
One look to the title and author and Harry knew he wouldn't be able to wait for after work.
He sat in the Auror office reading the brainchild of Albus.
It was fascinating, this was the first time he found history interesting.
Even with living and fighting in that time he was now given a complete different perspective.
This was an explanation how the Death Eaters and the Inner Circle functioned and the politics inbetween. something Harry hadn't even known had existed.
Voldemort had been a dictator to his followers but this didn't mean that they all had the same ideals or even could stand the others.
Voldemort used his followers according to their talents: Bellatrix Lestrange as torturer, Walden McNair as executioner, Lucius Malfoy for his political workings, Snape himself as researcher and potioneer, Dolohov and the Carrows were more the mindless but loyal henchmen and so on. Normal Death Eaters not belonging to the Inner Circle were more or less cannon fodder.
The low level Death Eaters had the hope of ascending to a higher level and plotted against the others. Even if they never managed to get into the Inner Circle they still had a hierarchy for themselves, a fluid state with arrangements, backstabbing and political manoeuvring.
The Inner Circle was similar in the sense of the different factions but the members were fixed in their function. This didn't mean that they didn't scheme against each other.
Voldemort encouraged this behaviour even as long as it didn't interfere with their duties.
It kept his followers busy and sharp and they couldn't suddenly band together and mutiny against him because they wanted more power for themselves.
You had to be careful when you recruited followers that were characterized by cunning.
With the main focus of the work being Severus Snape, Albus had explained where the spy had stood in comparison to the different factions and how this had influenced his working as a spy.
For example his traditional bad relationship with Bellatrix Lestrange meant a very volatile interaction. Combined with the fact that Voldemorts most trusted and valued followers were Snape and Lestrange didn't make this easier.
Harry couldn't believe this. How could it be that he hadn't known any of this?
He looked over the Arithmancy sheets and didn't even try to understand the calculations. He just skimmed to the results that were written for the idiots like himself who couldn't read an arithmantic equotation to save his life.
He had to owl Albus a response to this project.
