Fallen Angel
Harry was insanely pleased. He had nabbed the hottest guy in school as his boyfriend, people were starting to fear Torva, Dumbledore had been telling him all the different ideas he had for where the Horcruxes would be and what they would be, and he was heading home for the October half term. Draco was going home to spend time with his family, while Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were going back to Grimmauld Place. Harry had a plan, a plan he knew he would need his five friends help with (Fred and George were coming home for October too), and he was glad that he no longer had to wait to go through with it. He was going to recruit four adults.
Sat in the kitchen one evening, the five teens waited for the final member turn up. Lupin was on his way back from the pack he stayed with for the full moon, and Harry didn't really want to have to repeat himself to the werewolf when he returned.
Remus finally came through the door. "Sorry about that. Took longer than I thought. So, Harry, what is it?"
Harry, now in the presence of the four people he admired the most- Remus, Tonks, Molly and Arthur- changed his demeanour completely and addressed them with more respect than he would other recruits. "Well, what we need to tell you is very important and private. Would you mind if we put silencers up on the door, just in case? We don't want other people, especially Kreacher, hearing something they shouldn't and then shouting their mouth off."
"Of course." Remus himself cast the charms, before turning his calming brown orbs onto the boy in front of him. "Now will you tell us?"
"Yes. In your honest opinion, and please, be honest with us, we won't tell anybody. In your honest opinion, what do you think of Dumbledore?"
"Albus Dumbledore is a clever and wise man…"
"I said honest, Remus. What do you really think of him?" Harry pushed gently.
"What is this about my dear?" Molly asked, worried.
"It has come to my attention, Mrs Weasley, that Albus Dumbledore is a liar and a cheat, and that he knows exactly what I suffer every summer. He even goes as far as to encourage it. He does this so that he can appear the good guy. He plans on using me, using us," he indicated his friends with a wave, "as pawns in his great plan to take over the world. Tell me, does that sound like the Dumbledore you know?"
Molly started shaking her head. "No, I won't believe it, I refuse to."
"Believe it Mrs Weasley, because it is true." He reached out a hand to take hers. "Mrs Weasley, you know me. I don't lie when it comes to something as serious as this. Albus Dumbledore is a liar, and if left to do as he plans to, he will become one of the worst dictators that both worlds have ever seen. Do you really want that? Because I know we don't. That's why we're doing something about it."
"Hermione, Ginny, tell me truthfully." Tonks began. "These beliefs, when did you start believing them?"
"I started to believe them with Harry last year, Ginny only a couple of months ago. Why?"
"I have a theory. Harry, how fluent are you in Latin?"
"I know enough."
"Hmm. Lift up your sleeve Harry please, your right sleeve. You four as well." They did, revealing their Marks. Gasps went around the room, but Tonks kept her cool. "I thought as much. Put up your mask Torva, let's see you properly."
He did. At the reveal of their leader, the others put up their masks, revealing themselves. Molly started to cry. "My children, why my children? Why?"
Ginny immediately dropped her mask and gave her mother a hug. "Please don't cry mum. We're doing this because we trust Harry and we believe in him. We'll be perfectly safe with him."
"But you're on his side Ginny. There is no guarantee that you will be safe when Harry isn't around."
Here, Harry interjected. "Yes they will Mrs Weasley. Tom gave me his word that he would treat anybody on my side with the upmost respect, and the rest of the Death Eaters have been warned that if they try anything against me or my friends, they will suffer a fate worse than death. We'll all be fine, I promise."
At this, Arthur spoke up for the first time. "Harry my boy, was there no other option? Could you not have gone about this some other way, rather than changing sides?"
"If there was another way Mr Weasley, I can assure you I would have taken it. I do not want to side with Tom any more than I do Dumbledore, but at the moment, Tom is the better option. But now to the main point of the night. I would like to offer the four of you a place with me. You do not have to take it. If you think that you don't want it, then I will do my best to protect you from both sides. However, if you take it and then drop out, turn against me, or become a spy for the other side, then I will not be so kind. You will be treated exactly the same as any of my other enemies. And if you have been reading the papers of late, you'll know what I mean. It's up to you."
Remus lost it. "Hang on a minute. First you tell us that you have sided with the man that killed your parents, and now you are telling us to join you? I'm sorry Harry. You may want to disgrace your parents' memory, but I refuse to disgrace the memory of my best friends. After all they did for you. Giving up their lives for you! This is a bad way to repay them!"
"First of all, Remus, I'm simply doing what they wanted. They wanted to change the world to make it a better place; that is my aim. Second, Tom may have been the one to kill my parents and try to kill me, but if Wormtail hadn't have sold my parents out to him, then Tom would never have found them. I suffer, every summer, at the hands of my Aunt and Uncle, the people who are supposed to look after me. Dumbledore knew what they were like when he sent me there, and he knows what they do every year. He doesn't do anything about it because he thinks that if he seems like the good guy, I'll continue to do everything he asks of me. I won't."
"How do you know all of this Harry?"
"I got Dobby to tell me the truth. I got him to tell me whether Dumbledore had been plotting anything or not, and he had. I trust Dobby."
"You would rather trust the word of a house elf over the greatest wizard of our time?"
"Yes. Because under elfish law, Dobby must always tell the truth. I'll prove to you he has been lying to you. Every year, when first years enter the school, Dumbledore puts a block on their magic, one that he thinks only he knows the counter spell to. He does this so that there is never a chance of having somebody more powerful than him rise again. Somebody like Tom. He started doing it the year you started. He saw the potential my mother had, and it frightened him. So every year since, he has been putting blocks on the magic of the first years."
"And how would you know that? That was before your time."
"Portraits have memories. Phineas Nigellus Black was all too willing to share his once he found out that I planned to end this dictatorship once and for all."
"You have Phineas Black on your side?"
"Yes. He loathes Dumbledore as much as I do."
"Either way, Black is a liar. How do you know he isn't lying to you?"
"Hermione." Harry simply answered.
The bushy haired girl quickly linked the auras of the four adults, and before they could ask what she was doing, the spell was cast, the block removed, and the link broken.
"What was that?" Tonks asked.
"That was the counter-curse. Your magic is now free. Tell me, do you suddenly feel stronger?" They nodded. "Then it worked. Now do you believe me?"
"I do Harry. Mark me, I'm gonna join." The metamorphmagus declared proudly. Harry did. Then he surveyed the other three with questioning eyes.
"You don't have to do it. I just need to know."
"We'll do it, but only to protect our family." Arthur stated.
"That's fine." He marked the Weasley matriarch and patriarch also. Then he turned to the only link to his parents he felt he had left. "Remus? What about you?"
The werewolf stared him back in the eye, and Harry could see anger, betrayal, and conflict. The older man took his time answering. "I don't know, not yet."
Harry nodded. "OK. That's fine. Any questions?" They shook their heads. "Good. Then could you please give Remus and myself some privacy? Thank you. You four as well." The seven left the room, leaving Harry and Remus alone in the room.
They stared at each other in silence for a moment, until Harry broke the silence. "Kreacher!"
The old house elf apparated into the room. "Master is calling Kreacher?"
"Yes. Make us two teas please." Harry answered, all the while never taking his eyes off of the older man. Once the tea was made, he addressed the house elf once more. "Thank you. Now make yourself scarce for the night. Go and serve the Malfoys. I do not want any chances of you overhearing this conversation. Understood?"
"Yes master Harry." With a crack, the house elf disappeared, leaving the two alone once more.
Harry made the first move. "What is Remus? What's bothering you, what's on your mind?"
"You can tell that easy, huh?" The werewolf sighed. "If I side with you Harry, it means I will have to side with the man who mauled me to within an inch of my life when I was younger and turned me into a monster."
"Greyback?" Harry asked softly.
"Yes. It's not that I'm frightened of him, even if he is bigger than me. It's the fact that he's a monster and I hate him. I loathe him with a passion, and there is no guarantee that I will be able to hold my tongue if was to say something to me."
"You're worried about getting into a fight with him?"
"Yes. And I'm worried he'll kill me."
"Don't worry. He won't turn on you. Lupus non timet canem latrantem. A wolf is not afraid of a barking dog. He is not a wolf, not with that attitude. He licks the arse of Tom, how is that a wolf? More like a dog, loyal to his owner. You struggle every month alone, we both know that. You refuse help. You are more than a wolf than he is. Just tell him what I said to you just. He won't understand it anyway."
Remus laughed. "Thank you Harry, but I don't think it would be that easy."
"Remus," Harry reached out a reassuring hand and placed it on the older man's shoulder, "trust me. All the death eaters were given the same warning. Anybody who works for me, must be treated as one of their own, as if they bear the same mark. You'll wear a mask every time they see you, so they won't know it's you anyway. Don't worry about it. After all, Moony, you are a Marauder." Harry grinned. "Take your time deciding. I really don't mind."
"Thank you Harry. I'll do that." The old man drained his cup and stood, bidding goodnight to the Gryffindor, before leaving the kitchen and going to bed. Harry, however, stayed where he was for a while, contemplating. He now had three adults completely on side, three others he could use. He really wanted Remus, preferably, but didn't mind if the elder refused. Harry just hoped that the werewolf wouldn't hate him when he finally realised the life he may be letting himself in for.
A/N: Hi! Sorry for not posting last week. To make up for it, I've posted two chapters in one go. Thank you to everyone for sticking with this, and with me. But I'm still disappointed in the number of views people! Come on, review! Join the dark side! I'm giving away virtual cookies, hot chocolate, marshmallows, ice cream and cool dark capes to anyone who does! XD
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