Disclaimer: If I were JK Rowling, I would own Harry Potter, but I am not and I don't.

The Brotherhood

A/N - Reached 100 pages on word finally. That's exciting, right?

~~~ Chapter Twenty-seven ~~~

Harry approached the training room with some apprehension. It was one thing being taught by Lucius Malfoy. That, he could handle. Being taught by Lord Voldemort himself, Harry wasn't sure of. He was glad it was happening, of course. It suited his plan. But that did not mean that he wasn't weary of what might happen during his training. Harry did not forget his first day of training, and the method Voldemort had used to teach him then. If this was anything like that, Harry was positive he wasn't going to be able to survive.

Harry knocked lightly on the door as he arrived before pushing it open and entering. Voldemort wasn't there yet and Harry was alone in the room, but it wasn't a long wait until the door opened again and Harry saw Voldemort standing in the doorway.

Harry bowed, as he always did.

"Harry, it is not the time for formalities. You are being trained under me now, and as such, you have become more of an equal. There is no need to call me master," Voldemort informed him.

Harry held in his surprise and nodded instead.

"Now, let's begin," Voldemort stated and walked further into the room.

~~~TB~~~

Harry grumbled under his breath as he pulled a thick book off the shelf of the library in Voldemort's Lair.

"Was I ever given homework when I was training under Lucius? No! So why do I have homework when working with Voldemort?" he grumbled.

Dropping the heavy book on the table, Harry cringed as he saw the front cover and the picture of a person in what looked like extreme pain being shown on it.

"And of course, it has to be on the most gruesome subject. Why would anyone want to turn anyone else inside out anyway?" Harry continued, sitting down in his chair and pulling his half written paper closer to him.

"It's because he wanted to be a Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher, haven't you heard?" a voice broke through his complaining.

Harry looked up and saw an amused looking Bellatrix Lestrange standing in the shadows of a nearby bookshelf.

"What?" Harry asked.

Bellatrix smiled grimly. "He gave you homework because he wanted to be a teacher. He's acting as a teacher now, isn't he?"

"He wanted to be a teacher?" Harry repeated. For the life of him, he could not see Voldemort standing in a classroom teaching a bunch of students anything.

"He applied. He was rejected. He cursed the job," Bellatrix stated simply.

"That's why a teacher hasn't been able to keep the job for longer than a year," Harry murmured.

"You catch on fast," Bellatrix stated, then came closer.

Harry gazed at her. He remembered her in Azkaban very well, but she hardly looked like the same person now. Likewise, Harry supposed, neither he nor Sirius looked the same as they had in Azkaban.

"When did you escape from Azkaban?" Harry questioned. He had not seen Bellatrix around at all, but that was probably because he hadn't spent much time outside of his room.

"Last week," Bellatrix informed him, her eyes flickering past him and concentrating on the window behind him.

Harry glanced back there and saw nothing but sunlight streaming through. Of course, he had stared at the sun too, when he had just escaped from the dark prison.

Bellatrix stayed silent and Harry went back to his work, trying to avoid looking at some of the more horrifying pictures the book depicted.

"Heard from my dear cousin lately?" Bellatrix broke the silence.

Harry paused, his quill stopped mid-word.

"I don't speak to Sirius anymore," he told her.

"Pity. He would have made a great deatheater," Bellatrix murmured. She nodded a farewell to Harry and then left the library, as silently as she had entered.

Harry stared after her, wondering just what her purpose had been in seeking him out.

~~~TB~~~

Ginny paced around and around the room, Charlie's eyes following her as he sat on the couch. Their parents were at an Order meeting and although Charlie was invited to attend, he had elected to stay behind with Ginny.

"What is wrong with you?" Charlie suddenly asked.

Ginny stopped and looked at her brother. "Nothing," she replied, but in truth, she was getting worried. It was about the time that Harry had been supposed to move on to the second part of their plan, but nothing had happened yet. Of course, she couldn't tell Charlie this. She couldn't tell anyone this.

"There's obviously something wrong," Charlie rolled his eyes at her lame answer.

"I'm fine. You should have gone to the Order meeting," Ginny informed him, for the umpteenth time.

"And leave you all alone? I don't think so. Mum doesn't want you alone anymore. She thinks it's bad for your sanity," Charlie told her.

"There's nothing wrong with my sanity!" Ginny protested.

Charlie grinned, "Oh yeah? Can you prove that for a fact?" he teased.

Ginny glared at him, but then sighed and allowed herself to fall down onto the couch beside him.

She had Harry had joked about each other's sanity all the time, and the subject made her miss him extremely. At the same time, she had to wonder if he even missed her back.

A/N - You know the drill by now: read, review, and repeat.