Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
It appears that I was mistaken and that my readers are still enthusiastic about this story and eager to see where it is going. I'm really glad to learn it! It motivated me to pick up my writing again. So, thank you to those who put this story on alert and in your favourites and especially to my reviewers. I appreciate your support, everyone! :D
To answer my guest reviewers:
Guest: The only thing we know so far is that Moody got his Muggle explosives for 'somewhere' and gave them (or part of them) to the twins.
FanFiction Lover: Yes, I agree. A lot of people tend to forget that the Harry Potter books are for children, and that the morals and characters in the story are created for that public. But that's why we have fanfictions, right? To dig deeper and explore the possibilities that a fictive world offers. I think that, if he really existed, Harry would have a lot of psychological problems linked to his abuse and neglect. That's part of why all those 'Harry snaps and turn dark' stories just make sense with the character even if Harry isn't tempted to join the dark even once in canon. (Even if he has a penchant for using the Cruciatus on Death Eaters as a reflex in the end of the story that makes him look a bit hypocritical)
Apart from that, well, I'd just ask which accent you were imitating at the end of the review? I tried to voice it but I'm kinda crap at determining where an accent comes from. Oh, and 'Villainous Grannies', as you called them, still creep me out to this day as well. :P
autumngold: I hope this chapter will reassure you. ;)
Enjoy!
Chapter 30: 31st of October 1997: The Ministry
The Dark Lord and I exchanged a glance and ran out after Severus who was billowing back to the entrance parlour ahead of us.
"The situation, Severus," asked Voldemort in a firm voice.
"My Lord, it appears that the Rebels had planned a coup for tonight's reception. Most of the elite of the Wizarding World were invited to attend, and they dropped the bomb right at the instant when your entrance was scheduled. Normally, the explosion should have blown up the entire Ministry, judging the damage it did, but the wards you developed against an eventual Muggle attack worked and the bomb shattered against them. The structural damage on the Ministry building itself seems to be minimal, according to Lucius, but I have heard reports that everything surrounding is in shambles.
-What is Lucius doing at the moment? Is he organising a rescue team to help the citizens buried under the rubble? Are there rebels in place attacking the building?
-My Lord, Lucius contacted me with our two-side mirrors, everybody who were at the reception are stuck within the building. The have shut down the Floo after it caused some of the worst cases of Splinching ever recorded. They estimated that the explosion disrupted the Floo connection. The rubble blocks the Muggle exits. They were completely destroyed. He doesn't know what is happening outside.
-Do we have an estimate of the casualties? Were there wizards and witches around the building at the moment of the explosion?
-Yes, My Lord, as you know, it was barely after working hours and a number of Ministry employees use the Muggle exits to head back home, most of them Half-Bloods and Muggleborns. We have no figure for the deaths at the moment, but it seems like quite a lot of them were killed or wounded in the explosion.
-What is being done?
-I don't know, My Lord, we all thought you were trapped in the building with them. We only just received the call from Lucius that confirmed you weren't in there. I head here directly to check if you hadn't left yet. As I said, the attack seemed to have been planned for the exact moment when you were scheduled to address the population. Lucius and I believe it was targeting you, in particular, as well as the Pureblood elite of society.
-Who's out there, of my Death Eaters? Who can help?
-My Lord, everyone were gathered at the Ministry for the gala...Bellatrix is at home, but...
-We'll leave her there. She would probably cause more hurt than good. Rodolphus?
-Stuck in the Ministry with Rabastan and Crouch."
The Dark Lord swore under his breath.
"Severus, go to St. Mungo's and coordinate the rescue and healing team. Dig in the emergency potions stack if necessary. You have complete authority over St. Mungo's for the duration of the rescue effort. Leave now.
-Yes, my Lord." He bowed quickly and Apparated away.
The Dark Lord turned to face me.
"You're in no shape to come with me. You will stay here until I return. The attack might have been targeting you as well." he said in his commanding tone.
I lifted an unimpressed eyebrow.
"Don't even try. You know I'd just follow you the minute you're gone...And don't even consider inflicting Bellatrix as a babysitter." I replied, when I saw him open his mouth to object. "I'm fine now. Besides, I still feel all energised by your hug of earlier." I added, winking at him and springing a bit on my feet to show him I was good to go. I silently Summoned my emergency backpack from my room. You never knew when it could be useful.
He opened his mouth to disagree. I cut him off with a firm "No. I'm going."
He sighed. I guess he recognised the stubborn tone. He didn't have more time to waste.
"Fine, but you stay close to me and the minute you feel weak you come back. My guess is that it's going to be pretty bloody out there."
I nodded shortly at him and stepped closer to him.
He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and Apparated.
.
o0o0o
The sight that welcomed us looked like an apocalyptic scene. Entire buildings had crumbled to ashes and their cement skeletons were still standing rigidly in the vast field of broken concrete and burning cars. Bloodied limbs were jutting out from the debris under which they were buried and police sirens could be heard not far away from there. The air was reeking of death and sulphur.
The Dark Lord spotted a group of people in dress robes walking aimlessly around, shooting diagnosis spells randomly around. They were probably latecomers for the Gala. He briskly walked over to them and ordered:
"We have to get the people out before the Muggles arrive and take pictures. I need a team of Confounders and Obliviators. Who here has the highest grade in the chain of commands?"
A plump wizard lifted a hesitant hand.
"Me, my Lord. I'm the Head of Magical Sports and Games. I was late tonight, you see. It's good to see you out here, My Lord. We thought you were buried under there as well."
The rest of the wizards and the one witch nodded in relief.
"Good. You're Bagman, right?"
The plump wizard nodded hysterically his head, as if he couldn't believe the Dark Lord knew his name.
"You'll go to St. Mungo's, speak to Severus and tell him I need as many Obliviators as he can spare and send them here to do the job. The official story is a terrorist attack and we are the national security force. The rest of you," he transfigured their clothes in official looking Muggle army uniforms," establish a perimeter at half-a-Quidditch field or 300 meters around the Ministry building. Say they can't come closer because of the radiation. I'll set up the illusions. Questions? No? Good." They all looked at the Dark Lord with star-struck eyes before shaking their heads rapidly at the question.
Voldemort Apparated us at the 300m perimeter and traced a line on the ground with a short slash before turning to the Ministry building, lifting his hands and chanting. His wand did the most complicated movements I had ever seen and I felt a tremendous amount of magic being poured in the air around us. I looked at the Dark Lord's face. His brow was furrowed in concentration and I could see a bit of perspiration gather on his forehead. I stepped closer to him, instinctively, and placed a hand on his back slowly. He jerked reflectively, but didn't move away. I closed my eyes and focused on our link. Not a soul mate bound, but a soul connection nonetheless. I centered myself and started feeding magic into the link, supporting his effort. I felt him take a deep breath under my hand and straighten up, still incanting.
After a few minutes, he finally lowered his arms. I detached my hand from his back and looked around with my magical sight at the new dome enclosing the scene. It was enormous...and fuchsia. In a normal situation, I would have laughed at the fact that the Dark Lord had created pink wards, but not now, not in the midst of all this devastation. The Ministry building suddenly looked a in a worse condition than before and the wizards that were beginning to pop over were hid by the illusions set up by the Dark Lord.
The latter turned around, looking at me carefully.
"Thank you for the magic."
I had never heard him say that to anyone before. I smiled a bit at him and gave a light push on his shoulder.
"Come, Voldie, we gotta save your elite before we can take a break." I told him in a teasing tone. He snorted at the nickname. Well, that passed better than I thought it would.
He grabbed me again, and twisted in an Apparition. We ended up in front of a big pile of rubble. I could only vaguely see the shape of a staircase heading under the ground. It looked filled with debris.
"What's in there?" I asked, uncertain.
"What used to be one of the entrances from the Muggle world," he replied in a flat tone, casting a Homenum revelio in that direction. It came back negative. Nobody was alive in there.
"It's too full, we won't be able to enter by there." He said, pulling me into another Apparition.
We were further away from the Ministry building, in a small side alley. The buildings around were destroyed, but some of their walls still stood. Under another smaller pile of shattered rock and twisted pieces of metal, a door was visible.
"Does that lead inside the Ministry?" I asked.
"Yes, it's an emergency escape. It was condemned after the end of the Second World War, but I reopened it. Only a few people know about it. I expect Lucius thought it would be blocked as well, so he didn't send anyone to check it."
The Dark Lord waved his wand and in another powerful gust of magic, the rubble cleared away from the door. "I've placed reinforcement spells on the walls of the passage. Hopefully, they will have held and we won't have too much trouble. However, be alert and prepared to Apparate away if the ceiling starts collapsing, just in case."
He opened the door. A putrid scent wafted up to us. I did a Bubblehead charm on us. The Dark Lord shot me an amused smirk and started down the tunnel, his wand lighting the way.
I took out some lighting balls I had from the Rebels and filled them with my magic, making them float at the same time. They went to light our way ahead of us.
"Nifty trick," commented the Dark Lord.
I looked at him from the corner of my eye, huffing in humour at his choice of word.
"It's Rebel tech. You like it? Muggle flashlights and batteries inspired it.
-It's ingenious, but I'm not sure I like how the rebels use Muggle technology as an inspiration, I'm afraid." He said, gesturing at the corridor in which we were walking.
"I agree. They went too far with this bomb. They had already gone too far with Draco's kidnapping, in my opinion," I stated in a gloomy tone.
"In this precise case as well, they took tremendous risks to kill a big part of their opposition in one go, but they ended up murdering their popular support. Nobody will join up with them after such a disastrous attempt...I'm surprised that my wards worked so well against the bomb, I will confess. They were still at a testing stage and not ready to be implemented on a larger scale," he trailed off, pensively.
"It's a good thing you put them in place even if they weren't perfectly done. There have been enough casualties as it is. I can't even imagine what would have happened without them..." I replied, shuddering when I thought of the bodies buried under the debris.
After a while, he stopped suddenly. We had arrived at a crossing. He waved his wand around me and I felt an unknown spell settle on me.
"To the left is the Core of the wards, to the right, the Ministry Atrium. You have to take down the Apparition wards and I have to go reassure my population and direct them. I have just given you official authorisation to access them. I know you have some experience with Ward manipulation and I've seen you read countless more books on the subject in my Library. Can I entrust this task to you? It shouldn't be that hard, the Apparition wards were placed separately from the rest to be easily taken down in case of emergency."
I felt my eyebrows lift in surprise. He hadn't even wanted me to follow him here at first. But I felt flattered that he trusted me with such an important task.
"Yeah, of course. I'll do my best."
He shot me a quick smirk.
"I know you will. Come and join me up there when you are done, okay?"
I nodded. He pivoted on his feet and walked away briskly.
I turned back to the corridor to the left and took a deep breath.
Ministry Wards, here we come!
.
o0o0o0
I walked carefully, scanning the corridor ahead of me. I was ready for a possible ambush. After turning a few corners and not meeting anything, I began to relax a bit and jogged to the Core of the wards. The Dark Lord was crazy to ask that of me. Those wards must have been in place for centuries!
I knew what this was. It was a test. I told him I could go with him and help. He's asking me to prove it by assigning me the most difficult task of the lot (well, I didn't think I would be able to coordinate the rescue teams like Snape had to do either). And I was going to prove myself to him. Strange bouts of insanity earlier or not.
Now that I was alone again, my reaction seemed even less understandable. Had it simply been one betrayal too much? Or was it because it was His betrayal? I sighed. It's not as if he had promised that he had told me the whole truth when he talked about soul mates. In fact, I think the mistakes he made in his act must have been hints. I bet he wanted me to discover the truth, to realise by myself that he had lied. Another test, then, hum?
It was strange that I wasn't that upset about it now that I knew the truth of our connection. It was kind of gross to think that your head contained more than one soul, to think that his soul had sort of leeched on mine all those years.
At the same time, though, I thought while rubbing my scar distractedly, I can't deny it. And I'm relieved there is an explanation to why I have always been drawn to him and why his magic feels so much better than anybody else's I've ever met. I'm glad it wasn't just me being too weak to resist the same thing people around him feel every day.
I'd have to ask him what a Horcrux did for him exactly. If he had more than one, he could probably afford my death. I mean, if I was that troublesome and he was just keeping me around out of necessity, he could, in theory, kill me without dying like I thought in the case of soul mates. From what I got from his short explanation, I was more like a failsafe to protect him from dying and nothing more, really.
My thoughts were cut short when I turned another corner. In front of me was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. It was a core of pure energy, pulsating with power. The magic was flowing in and out of it in ribbons of different colours, wafting through the air and disappearing through the walls around and the ceiling. I reached out a hand. The power was so focused that I felt warmth under my palm. I examined the layers of wards. They had been expertly sown together, weaved seamlessly above and around each other. It was the work of generations of ward masters and geniuses piled up and presented to me in offering. But I didn't have time to study them, I had a task to accomplish, and this one I wanted to carry out for once.
I scrutinised the ball of magic. The Dark Lord hadn't lied. The Anti-Apparition ward was, compared to the rest, only superficially incorporated in the Core. But it was delicate. What is he thinking? I'm seventeen, by the gods! Not a hundred, like he probably is, that geezer!
I rolled my sleeves up. I was still wearing those non-practical dress robes from earlier. I had become accustomed to robes in the past months, but these were much too loose for my taste.
I focused on my task. I readjusted my grip on my wand, holding it loosely in my hand to allow a maximum of flexibility in the movement. I seized the ward I wanted to deactivate. Thank Merlin for the research I had done lately, or I wouldn't have known that you could deactivate wards. I used to think you could only bent them temporarily or shatter them.
I stroke the ward I wanted to isolate, pulling and slowly extricating it from its grip in the rest of the core. After much sweat and more failed attempts than I would have liked, some of them actually passing close to mess the entire structure up, the ward flickered and became dormant. I fell back on the ground, panting fast. I concluded that the Dark Lord was as insane as I had been earlier. I nearly blew the whole thing up! What was he thinking? By all that is bloody Magic! And Merlin's soggiest underpants put on top of it! And Circe and Morgana, like Draco said!
After a short while, I cursed and rolled on my stomach, lifting myself painfully from the ground.
I better get a massage after this or I won't be able to get up tomorrow...Oh, I know, I'll make the Dark Lord give do it in reward for my dedication and effort...hum...those hands...hum...
I snapped myself out of my thoughts. I shouldn't kid myself. The Dark Lord would give me a massage if he felt like it. I couldn't ask anything of him, the man would never obey to anything, of course not. But I could hint to and negotiate, probably.
.
I put a hand on the wall and pushed myself up, returning to the crossing and slowly making my way up to the Atrium. It was curious. I was walking right below it and the ground was semi-transparent. I could make out forms of people walking in the Atrium. Nearly at the end of the passageway, I heard some voices reach me through the ground.
"My Lord, if I may ask...what happened with Harry?
-Whatever do you mean, Lucius?" There was a pause, a hesitation.
"I mean no disrespect but I couldn't help to notice that you look...as if you have fought recently and I was worried when you didn't arrive in time..." the voice trailed off uncertainly.
"You might as well come out with your question now, Lucius. My patience is thinning." The Dark Lord sounded annoyed.
"My Lord, have you and Harry duelled? He is...alive?" I got the distinct impression that he wanted to say 'dead' and changed his mind at the last second. I felt my eyebrows lift on my forehead. So this is how it would have happened if he had killed me, earlier? Wow, I should feel privileged to hear that conversation.
"Why do I get the impression that you would be disappointed if that wasn't the case, Lucius? I didn't think you had enough interactions with the boy while he was at your Manor to justify such an attachment." Oh, manipulating bastard. He so enjoys playing with the people around him and testing them. I shook my head in disbelief. I may care for the man, I'd admit as much, but really, sometimes, he was exasperating.
I saw Lucius' blurry form straighten.
"At least he died honourably in combat. That's what he wanted." No, not really, I would much prefer to live.
"No, not really, he only wanted to be allowed a chance to live without a Duel looming in the horizon." Wow, the Dark Lord is beginning to know me quite well.
I heard Lucius exhale in frustration.
"My Lord, was his death really necessary, then? He wasn't bothering anyone here; he could have gone back to my Manor if you didn't want him at your Fortress anymore...
-Careful, Lucius, or it will start to sound as if you were questioning my decisions.
-I...no, of course not, my Lord...Shall I make the proper arrangements for the funeral, then?
-There won't be any funeral necessary, Lucius."
I heard him gasp.
"My Lord, at least, allow his soul peace in the afterlife, I beg of you."
I was quite shocked. I had always thought that Lucius was only humouring me on his Lord's orders and that he found my incessant questions annoying. It sounded like he really cared.
"Why, Lucius, I didn't know you were so fond of the boy." It was beginning to be eerie how in sync our thoughts were.
"He saved my son's life, my Lord. He became my son's friend. They have even continued to correspond after he left for Hogwarts. My wife is fond of him as well. He was a brilliant young man...May his soul promptly return to Magic...
-You're wasting your breath on this prayer, Lucius. Why don't you come out, Harry. I think you eavesdropped long enough."
I sighed. Of course, he would know I was there. I saw Lucius' form shuffle around a bit, as if he was trying to spot me. I made my way to the spiralling staircase and climbed it up with difficulty, pushing the trap door with effort. It fell on the ground noisily and I lifted myself out of the hole in the ground. When I looked up, I saw twin looks of relief and concern in the Lucius and the Dark Lord's eyes.
I sighed again, laboriously picking myself up and shuffling in front of the Dark Lord.
"You're an idiot to ask me to take care of the wards. I nearly blew the whole thing up a couple of times!" I hissed to him lowly. I didn't think he'd like other people to hear me insult him.
Lucius apparently heard anyway, because his eyes widened and passed from the Dark Lord to me rapidly. I shot him a small smile.
"Nice to hear you cared, Lucius. I was quite worried I would die alone earlier.
-Were the wards so bad to manage?" he asked in reply, frowning.
I snorted. If only it was just the wards.
"Nah, I was talking about earlier than that. But you know how old I am, right? I don't even have my OWLs, as the Dark Lord here loves to point out, and the next thing I know, I'm asked to go deactivate a ward in what has to be the most complex cores in Britain. You know, you should pick one: Am I young and incompetent or a mature wizard? What do you say?" I asked Voldemort.
He smirked at me and answered:
"I'd say that you're an impertinent brat. So, somewhere between your two suggestions."
I rolled my eyes at him.
"So, anyway. How are things going here?" I looked around; the Atrium was mostly empty now. "Everyone got out fine, then?" I asked the Dark Lord.
"Yes, I felt when you succeeded in lowering the ward and sent them back to their manors and castles. I put Crouch in charge of coordinating the efforts outside. I have to stay here because I'm still holding the illusions up."
I felt my eyebrows lift on my forehead in surprise.
"Ah, is that why you asked me to take care of the wards? It would have been way too draining to do it while holding the illusions."
He stiffened slightly at the allusion that he couldn't do something and scrutinised me. He was probably trying to see if I was mocking him. I wasn't. I was so drained myself already only with the wards...and a nervous breakdown earlier...My eyes closed automatically and I rubbed my forehead tiredly. I caught myself when I started swaying a bit. I felt a hand with familiar tingling magic press on my lower back. I opened my eyes to look at him. I smiled a bit in answer to the concerned glint in his eyes. I could see Lucius scrutinising us pensively a meter away. I turned back to the Dark Lord.
"I think I'd head home if that's fine with you?
-Good idea" he answered, looking around a bit. "I'll go outside see how the Muggles are taking everything. You should just go to bed.
-I'll accompany him, if you want, my Lord." interjected Lucius.
"As you wish, it would indeed be helpful, I believe.
-Woah, the Minister of Magic escorting me to bed. Isn't that a bit of an overkill? Besides, won't your loving 'electors' need you here, Lucius?
-Yes, but they need the Dark Lord more, and I'll only be gone for a few minutes," he answered.
I shrugged indifferently.
"See ya tonight, Voldie," I said, shooting him a teasing smile.
"Don't wait up, brat," was his reply. He hadn't addressed the nickname issue yet. It was surprising. It would probably come up when we'd talk about what had happened earlier. We had successfully skirted around the issue for the moment because of this bomb catastrophe, but I knew that we needed a serious discussion about it soon enough. Just...not before a good night of sleep at least.
"As if I could! I'll probably fall asleep a second before my head falls on my pillow. I haven't been this knackered since the Diagon Alley incident years ago. Bloody wards again, it's always their fault. Anyway, good night then. Will you Apparate us, Lucius?"
The Minister came closer to me, wrapping an arm around me.
"In the state you are now, you'd probably splinch us if you tried. St. Mungo's has enough to do already without adding two VIP patients on top of everything.
-Two? I'm one, but who's the other?" I asked innocently as we whirled around and Disapparated.
.
"Since when have you become this cheeky anyway? You were all mature and brooding when you were at my home. I leave you two months in the Dark Lord's Fortress and you come back joking all the time? That's not the usual effect this place has on people, I can assure you."
I shrugged a bit, too tired to pay too much attention to what I was saying or doing.
I shuffled to my bedroom, left Lucius at the door, changed into pyjamas, headed out again and went to my usual bed for the night. Lucius followed me without saying anything. When I arrived in front of the Dark Lord's rooms, I turned to him and lifted an eyebrow:
"What? Are you going to insist on following me inside to tuck me in now?"
He gaped at me slightly (As much as a Malfoy could gape, I supposed tiredly), looking at the door behind me.
"Harry, how long have you been sleeping in that room?
-Hum?" I asked confusedly. "About a month, why?"
Something like pity or sadness passed in his eyes.
"You forfeited about a month ago, right? I didn't think he would have asked that of you..."
That was random enough to shake me out of my sleepy daze.
"What are talking about, Lucius? I didn't forfeit...You're not making any sense today...
-It's okay, Harry. I got it; you don't have to hide it from me if you're ashamed. I'm just glad you're alive. He seems to be treating you relatively well, so I can't complain."
I nearly growled in frustration. What was this man on about? I just wanted to go sleep in my gigantic comfy bed among my forest of fluffy pillows and sleep until the Dark Lord came back and then maybe have some fun...hum...
"I mean, it's not that I hoped you won, really, because the Dark Lord is my Master and I'm his loyal follower, but I had hoped that the price he'd asked for your forfeit wouldn't be...as shameful as forcing you to pleasure him..."
My brain caught up with the conversation just at that last sentence. I bolted up from the door on which I had slouched.
"What, wait, what? The, who's forcing me to do what?
-The Dark Lord asked that you become his sort of...servant...' explained Lucius in a tentative voice.
"Are you kidding? You think I'd let myself become that? That's one of the only reasons I haven't forfeited yet! Seriously, the more time passes and the less I think he'd ask for something like that, because, come on, since when is he so short on submissive men getting on their knees for him the second he glances at them? The whole gay and bisexual population out there are practically begging to become his willing slaves. He doesn't have any use for that sort of things. That man craves challenges and defiant behaviour. How do you think I got away with calling him Voldie twice today in public?"
I sighed tiredly.
"It's nice of you to worry, Lucius. But I'm fine, really. This is completely consensual and mutually beneficial. So just go back to the disaster zone and don't mention any of this to the Dark Lord. Alright?"
Lucius detailed me and pondered my words for a few seconds before he nodded and bid me his goodbye.
I tiredly opened the doors and let myself crash across the giant bed. I wanted to pull the covers down and go underneath them, but I just needed to close my eyes for a second before to gather my energy to...
Voilà!
You'll get alternate POVs on other people's reactions in the next chapter, as well as the discussion between Harry and the Dark Lord.
Thank you in advance for reviewing! :)