Chapter 9: Expulso

The tension amongst the order members was palpable as if the very building itself sensed the seriousness of the discussion taking place. Sirius Black sat in his usual spot next to the Potters, his face creased with worry. The meeting was set to start in only a couple minutes and already everyone was starting to argue amongst themselves about what they were to do. Across from him, Sirius could see the cold, empty chairs of Frank and Alice, a stark reminder of what they had lost.

Two weeks had already passed since Severus had returned from his disastrous meeting with You-know-who and delivered the horrible news of Frank's death. Ever since then, the order had been in a state of chaos and disarray. Not only had a senior member been murdered and a family destroyed, but Dumbledore had lost his only connection to the mind of the dark lord. It hadn't taken long for the news of Severus's expulsion from You-know-who's inner circle to spread around the order. The potions master had not revealed what exactly had occurred that night, but it wasn't hard to know how You-know-who'd found out. The evil wizard's love of using legilimency on his prisoners was well known. Sirius could only hope that Frank had been put out of his misery quickly.

As expected, Alice had taken the news of her husband's demise extremely hard. The woman had all but locked herself into her home and refused to see anyone. Molly and Lily had managed to get her to open the door and accept some food they'd brought over, but no one had succeeded in getting a word out of her. From what Sirius had heard, Neville was also not faring well at Hogwarts. He found himself wondering if the boy would be able to survive till the end of the term. His godson had told him that Neville had hardly spoken since his father's funeral last week.

Sirius dragged his gaze away from the empty chairs and turned to look at James, who was sitting next to him. Alice's reaction reminded him painfully of how the Potters had reacted to their son's death. It had brought back horrible memories for everyone…James and Lily most of all. It had been a blissfully long time since the order had lost any members, the last time being the night of Harry's murder. But this latest tragedy had reignited everyone's biggest fears.

They were being targeted and anyone could be the next victim.

This was only exacerbated by the almost daily raids and attacks on muggle and wizarding communities alike. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the violence, except to instill fear. No one felt safe and everyone was tired. Sirius didn't think he had been able to sleep more than a few hours per night for the past week. His mind was constantly focusing on the death eater encounter he'd had on any given shift. He was frankly shocked that Lily even allowed her husband to continue to work as an auror.

"Didn't I tell you that this was going to happen?" Mad-Eye's booming voice caught Sirius's attention, "You-know-who will not rest until he's killed each and every one of us."

"And what do you expect us to do? We can't just kill him in his sleep. We don't even know where his headquarters are, for Merlin's sake," Kingsley was obviously irritated.

"Well ask the man who spent time kissing the very ground that that fucker walks on. We all know he knows where the son-of-a-bitch lives."

"Don't be an idiot, Moody. You know that Severus is under the Fedelius Charm or he would have told us long ago. He's not the enemy here."

Mad-Eye didn't seem convinced and sent a scathing look at Snape who sat motionless next to Dumbledore. The auror muttered, "Makes you wonder what else he's hiding from us."

Kingsley ignored the comment and turned his attention to Dumbledore who had risen slowly to his feet. Gradually all arguments and conversations died away. The meeting was about to start.

"I understand that we are all under a great deal of stress at the moment," Dumbledore looked around at the witches and wizards gathered before him, "But fighting amongst ourselves is exactly what the death eaters want. We should, instead, focus on the task at hand."

"And what would that be?" Sturgis Podmore said loudly from the far end of the table, "What task do we have other than to protect ourselves? You'd have us stick our necks out even more by launching a direct attack on You-know-who? Well, I'll tell you how that'll end, Albus. It'll end with our necks getting cut in half. We'd just be doing the death eaters a favor."

A murmur of agreement spread through the order members. Sirius remained silent, however, curious to hear how Dumbledore would respond.

"I would never ask any of you to do something that you are not comfortable with," Dumbledore said calmly, "But being here already puts you at an elevated level of risk. Frank's death is a terrible tragedy. It should serve as a reminder to us of what we are fighting for. As sad as it is, we are at war, and where war is death always follows. What matters is that we can honour the memory of the fallen and not allow our grief to consume us. Without us standing in his way, Tom would have already taken over much more than he already has."

Sirius watched as the old wizard turned his sorrowful gaze to James and Lily. Everyone in the room knew he was referring to Harry.

"The Death Eater attacks and raids are becoming more and more frequent. Tom is sensing that the people's faith in the ministry is weakening and he is taking advantage of that," Sirius felt a headache growing behind his eyes at all of the talk of death and war. He experienced enough of this talk being an auror, but, nevertheless, he forced himself to listen attentively, "We can no longer be sure of where or when the death eaters will strike next. However, I have a feeling that Severus's betrayal will not be far from Tom's mind. For that reason, I have taken the liberty to strengthen the wards around Hogwarts. I have also temporarily shut down the floo network in and out of the castle."

Everyone began to mutter and stir at the news, but for his part, Sirius was not at all surprised. It seemed logical that Snape would be number one on You-know-who's kill list. But it was not this reality that worried him, what did worry him was the thought of who else was on the list. James? Lily? Kingsley? Himself?

"Rumors and sightings of have also begun to spread of a new member that Tom has initiated. Someone extremely powerful and close to him. A master of wandless dark magic. All we know is that he has started accompanying Death Eaters on raids."

"The Dark Servant," Sirius breathed as he realised who Dumbledore was referring to.

Rumors of this new death eater had been swirling around the department ever since Frank's death. This was soon followed by sightings and then encounters. Some aurors were even claiming that You-know-who had adopted this person as his heir, something that Sirius found extremely unlikely. But regardless, the identity of this witch or wizard remained a mystery. Sirius himself had not been given the opportunity to fight with the Death Eater yet, but from what he'd heard, the dark servant was a threat. The ministry also seemed to agree with this sentiment and had named the Death Eater as the department's most wanted individual, second only to You-know-who.

"So you would suggest that we just sit and wait until this dark servant comes along to kill us as we sleep?" Sturgis was looking increasingly frustrated at the conversation and Sirius couldn't blame him, "The Auror Department can't even manage the increasing number of attacks. How will they or anyone else be able to protect us? It sounds like this new death eater has already signed our death certificates. We'd be better off just turning ourselves over to You-know-who and begging for mercy."

"Enough, Podmore!" Everyone turned in surprise as Snape's stern voice cut through the air, "You should learn to keep your mouth shut. The Dark Lord does not have the capacity for mercy. Don't speak about something that you know nothing about. It makes you sound like the fool you are."

Snape sneered at the Sturgis who just glared back and spat, "Then fill us in, Severus. Merlin knows that you know the most of anyone here. Oh wait, I forgot…you can't."

Sirius watched carefully as Snape leaned forward in his chair, a deadly twinkle in his eye, "There are many things that I think would interest you and the Auror Department greatly. Things that would scare you to know. Identities, locations, dark secrets. But, as you said, I am not at liberty to speak of them."

Sirius felt his heart sink slightly. Part of him had hoped that the potion master was about to spill his knowledge of You-know-who, but it was just a foolish thought. He was not at all surprised that the evil man would have put his followers under numerous secrecy charms.

Sturgis, though, did not seem satisfied with Snape's answer.

"You know something about You-know-who's new Death Eater? You know who this person is and what they're capable of, don't you? Now tell me, why would You-know-who put secrecy charms around the identity and capabilities of a death eater? What is he hiding from us?"

Snape simply pressed his lips into a thin line and said nothing. Sirius could see that the man was conflicted about something, creases forming on his forehead. Snape knew something important and he couldn't say it.

"Shut it, Podmore!" Lily's loud angry voice caused Sirius to flinch reflexively, "You already know that Severus cannot divulge any information besides what he has already given. Leave the poor man alone."

"But he knows who this death eater is," Stirgus protested weakly, seeming scared of the witch, "He probably even knows how to defeat him."

Sirius watched as Snape's face grew dark, an odd emotion crossing the man's face. He knew that Snape was desperately fighting against the Fidelius Charm. And for the first time in his life, Sirius realised how hard it must be to be a spy in this situation…where you knew so many things, yet had no way to share them with others. He could only imagine the guilt he himself would have felt had he been in that position. Strangely, Sirius began to feel bad for Snape.

"The Dark Servant murdered my husband."

Sirius whipped his head around as the familiar voice rang out across the room. His eyes widened his surprise as he saw Alice Longbottom standing at the door, her hazel eyes ablaze with anger and hatred.

"My dear, Alice," Dumbledore's voice was soft and gentle, "How are you today? I did not expect that you would attend or I would have waited for your arrival."

The witch ignored the polite greeting and simply looked around at the occupants of the room, coming to rest on Snape. Alice strode over to the end of the table, pushing Sturgis aside roughly to clear room for herself.

"My husband was brutally murdered by this Death Eater," the venom in the woman's voice caused those near to her to sink back in their chairs, away from her.

Sirius watched alarmed as Alice reached into her robes and pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment. The witch slammed the letter onto the table.

"The Dark Servant is planning an attack at the end of the week and I intend to be there…waiting for them. I'm going to kill them myself."

At the other end of the room, Sirius heard Snape let out a strangled gasp before the entire room erupted once more into chaos.

Kingsley Shacklebolt brought his hand up to massage his forehead in an effort to subdue the pounding migraine that he'd developed throughout the course of the meeting. He made a mental note to ask Lily for a pain reliever before he left Grimmauld Place…if the meeting ever finished.

Alice's unannounced appearance had shocked the entire room and thrown it into such disarray that it had taken almost half an hour for Dumbledore to calm everyone down. For his part, Kingsley was impressed that it hadn't taken longer. Dedalus Diggle's erratic yelling had done little to help the situation, particularly when coupled with Moody's booming demands to know where the letter had come from.

The letter in question had been passed around the table during the commotion from witch to wizard until the badly crumpled parchment had made its way into Kingsley's hands. The message on it was brief but filled with extremely valuable information. It detailed out how Frank Longbottom's mangled body had come to rest in Hogsmeade and, more importantly, who had been responsible for the murder. At the bottom of the page, there was a single sentence eluding to a death eater raid set for that Friday. It was supposedly set to take place in the Muggle village of Dufftown. But what concerned the auror considerably was that it was to take place against a group of Hogwarts students who were taking a school trip there.

James and Lily seemed exceedingly distressed about this particular detail, but Kingsley was more interested in the information regarding the dark servant. This mystery person has posed the biggest threat, besides You-know-who, to the Auror Department since the first sighting of the death eater just a week ago. The letter stated that this 'dark servant' had first attempted to kill Frank with a dark potion before ultimately murdering the man with a dark curse.

The exact identity of the author was unclear. It was certainly a death eater, but Kingsley was confused that one of You-know-who's followers would divulge such valuable information in such a way…and to Alice of all people.

From what Kingsley could gather when the meeting had, at last, continued, was that Alice was not sure how exactly the letter had been delivered to her home. She said she had simply come across the parchment lying on her kitchen table that morning. Why the witch had not instantly called it in after she'd read it was beyond him. But what the rest of the order members seemed focused on currently was whether or not to believe the contents of the message.

"But why would someone blatantly betray You-know-who in such a fashion?" Black was arguing with Mad-Eye, "It seems just too good to be true. I say it's leading us into a trap."

"And yet the details of what happened to Frank's body match up with the report. Why would a Death Eater include those bits if it was a trap?"

"To make us believe it," Bill Weasley cut in, "We aren't arguing with the fact that a death eater wrote this, just that we shouldn't run headfirst into danger."

"Well, either way, it's probably someone in You-know-who's followers who wants to get rid of this dark servant. Someone wants to see him gone." It was Remus this time.

"And why would that be?" Black seemed unconvinced, "Besides, why would a Death Eater be stupid enough to murder their master's right-hand man? Seems unlikely if you ask me. Besides, why wouldn't he just give us the dark servant's identity and a description if that's the case?" Black was glaring at Moody now, "Think about it, Mad-eye. If this writer had wanted us to get rid of the dark servant then why would they simply not just say it? It's like they just trying to mess with us. I don't like it and I wouldn't trust anything that's written there."

"Or they don't know the identity of the dark servant either. Or they're under the Fedelius Charm too," Peter Pettigrew's soft voice caught everyone's attention, "Maybe they wanted to stir up our anger toward this person so we would kill them…so he doesn't have to."

Kingsley frowned at the Hogwarts groundskeeper. He found Peter's use of the word 'he' to be concerning since no one yet knew the writer's gender. But he quickly brushed the thought aside as Severus rose to speak, quieting the arguing aurors.

"If I may," the man said, "I have had frequent encounters with both death eaters and inner-circle members alike. While I wish I could say more, I can assure you that not all followers of the dark lord feel a sense of loyalty to this dark servant. I do apologise that I cannot say more about that subject. But if you were to ask me about the validity of this letter, I would conclude that it is highly probable that what Peter has said is true. It would cost a death eater their life should they kill another member without express permission from You-know-who. For that reason, should any of them wish to be rid of this person they would need someone else to do the killing for them."

"So you think that a death eater wants us to kill the Dark Servant for them?" Black still looked skeptical.

"Well, it's not like we've had any luck so far in actually capturing any of them alive. They know that we'll probably end up killing the dark servant even without trying to," Moody snorted, "So it's not a bad thought that we might end up succeeding if we could ambush them on Friday."

Kingsley let his gaze drift back towards Severus as both aurors continued to argue. He noticed that the man was looking slightly ill and more pale than usual. There was an almost sorrowful look in the potion master's eyes and Kingsley couldn't help but wonder if Severus knew the dark servant. Could they possibly even be friends? He hoped, for Severus's sake, that this wasn't the case.

Moody seemed to be getting more and more excited with the thought of killing the Dark Servant in an ambush. The almost blood-thirsty look in the man's eye disturbed Kingsley greatly. He was about to comment on it to Remus when he was startled by an all too familiar vibration in his robes. A shrill beeping noise came a second later, sending the entire room into complete silence. Everyone knew the sound…it was an emergency alarm from the Auror Department. Someone had called for backup which could mean only one thing…there was another attack taking place. He had forgotten that he was on call tonight.

Kingsley looked over at Dumbledore, who simply nodded at him almost sadly. Without stopping to offer any farewells, the head-auror pushed back his chair and hurried from the room. He burst through the front door of number 12 Grimmauld Place and out into the cold night. He reached into his robes and pulled out his port key. The small metal circle was flashing red. Taking a deep breath, the auror activated it and vanished with a quiet pop.

Peter Pettigrew sunk back into his chair as the meeting came to an end at long last. Unfortunately, Kingsley's sudden departure had not been enough to stop the conversation.

The discussion about the validity of the letter had pretty much ended with Severus's comment, but several Order members still did not look pleased. Moody had said he would get Kingsley to have an entire squad of aurors in place around the muggle village should an attack actually take place. James, on the other hand, had been extremely vocal that the Hogwarts trip should be postponed, if not canceled entirely. It had taken over an hour of discussion and arguments for an agreement between both sides to finally take place. The Muggle Studies trip would still be permitted to continue as planned with one change: student's parents would be contacted and permitted to join the trip should they choose. For whatever reason, James felt that the presence of so many aurors and parents would make it impossible for any harm to come to the children. And, despite what Mad-Eye seemed to think, the safety of the children was their top priority.

Peter dared to glance over at Lily and was greatly disappointed to see that the witch was already hurrying out of the room, escorted by her husband.

No doubt eager to go and check in on her children, he thought rather sad that he hadn't gotten the chance to talk to either of the Potters, I'm doing this for them, after all.

Not that he could tell anyone what he had done. He was already putting himself in a considerable amount of danger as it was. He was exceedingly lucky that Severus had never seen him at the dark lord's manor, nor had the man any reason to assume that Peter was a secret informant for Voldemort. In fact, no one knew this but the dark lord himself, who wanted to keep his communications with Peter a secret. This had always puzzled Peter, but he had never complained. In fact, at this moment, he was incredibly grateful for the anonymity, otherwise, he would not have been able to do what he'd done.

"Right," Dumbledore pushed himself up from the table, "I'm sure we are all quite ready to return to the castle."

Peter looked around and noticed that the room had emptied of its occupants, save for those who had come with Dumbledore from Hogwarts. Severus was looking quite unhappy and McGonagall was tapping her foot impatient.

"Indeed we are, Albus," the witch said, "We are returning far later than I had hoped. I need to prepare the rest of my material for tomorrow's sessions."

Dumbledore just offered an apologetic smile before reaching into his long robes and pulling out the portkey they had arrived with. He set the quill on the table before taping it lightly with his wand to reactivate it. They had all been forced to travel together via portkey since Dumbledore had shut the floo network at the castle.

"Ready, everyone?"

Peter realised that he was still sitting in his seat. He quickly jumped to his feet and hurried over to where the other Hogwarts-bound members already stood. Severus glared fiercely at him. Peter ignored this and quickly placed his hand on the end of the quill. Four other hands joined his and the next moment Peter felt an awful jerk behind his navel. Grimmauld Place soon disappeared into a swirl of colours.

They all landed safely back in Dumbledore's office a moment later with no small amount of grumbling from many of them. Severus brushed himself off and stalked out of the room muttering something about a stomach soother. Peter quickly bid goodnight to the headmaster before he scurried out of the room after the potion master. He never felt comfortable being in Dumbledore's presence.

Peter was only able to breathe a sigh of relief when he found himself back in his cramped quarters near the greenhouse. He shut the door softly behind him and quickly put up a silencing charm. He was known to talk in his sleep and he wasn't taking any chances tonight.

Finally alone, Peter felt all of his energy drain from his body. He stumbled over to his bed and collapsed onto it. The soft mattress was a blessed relief to him. He sighed heavily and turned over onto his back. Peter desperately wanted to sleep but he felt that his mind was still too full to allow him to rest. A spider was building a web in the corner of the room above him and found himself staring at it transfixed for quite some time. After a while, his mind began to drift back to earlier that morning, when he had written the letter to Alice.

Peter hadn't meant for it to cause such a stir, but then again he shouldn't have thought any different. The information he had divulged in the message was quite significant. And it should have been. He'd gone through a lot of effort to gather it all and he had been rather disappointed when so many members seemed to think of it as fake.

No. He had been there. He had helped dispose of Frank's body.

Peter had been summoned to see the dark lord soon after Severus arrived bearing news of Frank's death. Voldemort had called him in to explain his new situation. He, Peter Pettigrew, was now the dark lord's main informant and the man wanted to keep it that way. After the short, but rather stressful interaction was over, Peter had slipped on his cloak and had made for the floo when Voldemort stopped him. The dark wizard explained that he needed Peter to help him with something before he would allow him to leave. With Severus gone, he'd said, he needed someone to help find the correct place to dispose of Frank's body…somewhere where an order member would quickly find it.

A million thoughts had raced through Peter's head as the dark lord led him through a series of winding halls until he had come out into a large courtyard. There, a group of death eaters were standing, all gathered around the mangled body of Frank Longbottom. Peter had almost thrown up at the horrid sight of his friend's torn-open flesh and glassy eyes. He had felt everyone's eyes on him as Voldemort introduced him as 'an informant'.

A split second later the sound of a huge explosion had shaken the air and Peter had reflexively ducked as chunks of stone and glass began to rain down all around them. Thankfully, Voldemort had reacted quickly enough to shield them all with a simple spell.

When Peter had looked back up, he'd seen that a wall of the manor on what looked to be the third floor had been blasted apart. Through the now gaping hole, Peter managed to catch a glimpse of black hair and piercing green eyes before the figure disappeared from his view.

"Get rid of it," Voldemort had growled, suddenly angry, "He will tell you where to take it."

Then the Dark Lord had disapparated with a loud crack. Peter had staggered to his feet, glancing worriedly at the group of Death Eaters that stood in front of him. They hadn't seemed impressed by what they saw.

"So where do you want us to put it?" one of the Death Eaters had asked with a sneer.

"Ummm," Peter had had no idea what to say. His mind was still reeling from finding out about Frank's death and Severus's current predicament.

"You're the informant. The Dark Lord said that you had somewhere where we were supposed to put it." Another Death Eater had spat at him when he hadn't answered quickly enough.

"R-r-right," Peter had stuttered, "H-Hogsmeade. Put him in Hogsmeade."

"Where in Hogsmeade…that's an entire fucking town, you idiot. Where exactly do you want us to put him?"

"By the-the um in front of the-the Shrieking Shack," Peter had said the first location that had come to mind. He had no idea if an order member would find it there, but he felt sure that someone would find Frank soon enough.

The death eaters had seemed skeptical of the location that this 'informant' had given them, but they were not going to disobey their master's direct orders. One of them had simply grabbed onto Frank's body and disapparated with a crack. The other two had looked back at Peter…waiting for him.

"Come on. What are you waiting for, you fucking idiot?"

"You-you want me to come w-with you?"

"Obviously."

Peter had not been emotionally prepared for having to play a part in the disposal of Frank's body. He had taken a shaky breath before nodding to the two death eaters. He twisted on the spot, disapparating out of the large courtyard.

After that, it had only taken a couple of minutes for the Death Eaters to position the body of the auror under Peter's careful instructions. He had tried to have them leave the body in a visible spot so it could be seen from the road. Once Peter had said it was good enough, the other men had stepped back to admire their handiwork.

"It's a pity that draught didn't work on him," one of the Death Eaters had said, "Then, at least, there wouldn't've been a body for us to clean up."

"Agreed," another had responded, "But the curse 'e used isn't one that I've seen the dark servant use before. Must be some new dark spell 'e's been trying out."

The Death Eaters had all chuckled at this, finding something about it mildly humorous.

"Well, it's best to get back. I want a chance to see the damage that he's managed to create in his wing. I'm sure that the Dark Lord is furious with him at the moment. Wonder if he'll even be allowed out on any more missions for a while."

"Master's said 'e's going to be leading the one to that Muggle village. Dufftown was it? The one where the school kids'll be there."

"Leading? You've got to be shitting me."

"Na, master told me 'imself. Said 'e's got something 'e wants 'im to do there. Dunno what, though. Just hope 'e won't fuck it up like 'e did before. No one can deny that 'e's got power, but I don't think 'e has the experience to go with it. 'e's a loose canon if you ask me."

Peter had been listening silently while the death eaters conversed amongst themselves. His hands had closed into tight fists at his sides as he realised that they were casually talking about Frank's murderer. He hadn't realised that Voldemort hadn't been the one to kill his friend. It had been someone else…a death eater. There was something about that fact that made Peter's blood boil.

A moment later all three of the Death Eaters had disapparated from Hogsmeade without even as much as a glance at Peter. They clearly had already forgotten about him. But he didn't care. His mind was currently filled with images of a black-haired, green-eyed, Death Eater slashing open Frank's chest with a flick of his wand as the man screamed and cried out for mercy.

Mercy that would never come.

For the second time in his life, Peter had felt unbelievable rage and regret pour through his body. Voldemort had let this man, this Dark Servant, use Frank as a test dummy. The realisation had made Peter sick to his stomach. Memories of Harry had started to flash through his mind and it was in that moment that he had begun to formulate his plan. He couldn't take revenge for Harry's killing, but he could for Frank's. He would make sure that this death eater would not live to murder another one of his friends.

Now as he lay on his bed, Peter couldn't help but smile as he finally realised that his plan was coming into play. The aurors and order members would be there, ready for the dark servant when he came to Dufftown. The man would die and Frank would be avenged. He knew that in writing the letter, he had put himself in considerable danger should the dark lord ever find out. He had thought about the consequences and battled with his own fear for almost two weeks before he had come to terms with it.

He had to do this. He had to make sure that the dark servant died. It was the only way he could start to make things right.

Harry crouched low as Dolohov's stunning spell shot over his head. A low growl found its way out of his mouth as he shot an angry look at the death eater. If any of the man's wayward spells were to hit him, Harry swore that he would kill the man himself. He was already focused on fighting with the ministry aurors and didn't need anything else to worry about.

It had been a little over two weeks since Harry's father had revealed the truth about Severus. As much as Harry would have liked to say he was surprised, he wasn't. He had never liked the man with his lanky, oily, black hair and narrow eyes. He'd always felt like there was something not quite right about him and now his suspicions had been confirmed. Harry had to admit that he was also not upset about not having any more occlumency lessons. In fact, to be perfectly honest, he was actually exceedingly pleased that Severus wasn't around to bother him anymore. He'd found the man to be rather infuriating.

Yet, Harry was hesitant about the idea that he was to kill the former Death Eater. This was something that he wasn't sure he was capable of. He had never witnessed Severus in battle and did not know the extent of the man's magical abilities. But his father had insisted that Harry would have no issues in permanently ridding the world of Severus Snape.

Currently, Harry's biggest issue was that he had no idea how to get to the reclusive man. Severus had not left Hogwarts since that night and didn't really seem to need to. And as much as Harry wanted to, he knew that it would be a suicide mission to attempt to get at the man while he was on the school grounds and within reach of Albus Dumbledore. Planning and logistics were not something that Harry had ever had to deal with and he found himself rather at a loss of where to even begin. He was used to his victims being delivered to him; tracking them down required an entirely different set of skills.

Thankfully, Voldemort had been in a rather good mood, despite all of the damage Harry had created to his wing. His father had actually agreed to allow him to join several raids in nearby towns. He had agreed that Harry needed to build up his skill in combat. When Harry had asked him why he was suddenly given so much freedom, Voldemort had simply said that he expected it would take a great deal of skill and power to kill Severus. Harry suspected that this meant he would only have the opportunity to kill the man in an all-out battle. Most likely one that included ministry aurors and possibly even Dumbledore.

But this thought excited Harry. This is what he had waited his entire life for…to be recognised by his father…to be given a purpose that extended beyond the walls of the manor.

The raid they were currently on, was meant only to continue to cause panic and disarray in the wizarding community. There was no real purpose to it, besides continuing to strengthen people's fear of Voldemort. For his part, Harry found these excursions rather fun. They allowed for him to test out new spells and breathe in clean air that didn't smell of dust and decay.

He had also begun to develop quite a reputation of his own. His father had given him the nickname of the Dark Servant many years ago and Harry quite liked it now. Voldemort had been very insistent with him that he did not wish for those outside of his inner circle to know that he was the dark lord's heir. The man feared this would make him too much of a target from both inside and outside of the manor.

And Harry was content to live in anonymity. He quite enjoyed the power it gave him.

A spell hit the tree next to Harry, bringing him back to the present. The young wizard shot a look of furry at the young auror who had dared attack him. The man stood at a distance sneering at him, wand out and at the ready. Harry smirked under his Death Eater mask. The auror had no idea what was coming.

Harry didn't even bother to raise his wand as he attacked. With a swipe of his hand, Harry sent the auror careening sideways into a rock wall. The man didn't even have time to react before he hit the unforgiving stone and fell to the cobblestone streets with a cry of pain and surprise.

Under his mask, Harry grinned at the sound and stalked toward the man who was now struggling to get to his feet. It felt so good to have a reliable way to release his magic. He found that it kept his temper and flair-ups in check. Not to mention that he was guaranteed the intoxicating rush of dark magic multiple times a week.

The remaining aurors seemed to sense their comrade's plight and turned to fire spells at him instead. Harry simply threw up his shields, surrounding himself with an impenetrable red mist. The spells and hexes collided with the shield and fizzled out instantly, much to the disappointment of their casters. When the barrage of spells ended, Harry let his shields fall with a snap. He instantly turned his gaze back to his prey. The auror was now scrambling to find his wand, a look of terror on his face.

Harry almost felt bad for the young wizard…almost. He raised his wand toward the auror's exposed chest as his eyes darkened. The other ministry aurors seemed to realise what was about to happen. They start to fire frantically at Harry.

But it was too late. The familiar unforgivable curse roared out of Harry's wand, its green colour left no one wondering which curse it was.

In the next seconds that followed, several things happened simultaneously; none of which Harry had anticipated. There was a loud crack of apparation somewhere behind Harry, which caught his attention. He whirled around to see who had just joined the fight, but in doing so he forgot about the spells sent from the other aurors. The first of these hit Harry in the arm, slashing open his Death Eater robes and drawing a line of crimson blood. Harry hissed and instantly threw his shields up as he twisted out of the path of a stunner.

Fuck, Harry thought angrily as he watched the remainder of the spells hit his shield and disappear, Get your head out of your arse and focus, Harry. You're making a fool of yourself again.

Harry let his shields fall as the remaining aurors were distracted by a barrage of spells from his fellow death eaters. The young wizard grinned and turned to see if his killing curse had hit its target. Harry felt his breath catch in his throat as he suddenly found the tip of a wand pointed directly at his face.

Fuck, was all he had time to think before Kingsley Shacklebolt's spell hit him in the chest, blasting him off his feet.