Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
A/N: A classmate of mine died last weekend, so this chapter goes to him even though the chapter is not that pleasant... I wish I could do more for you. You were way too young. We will all miss your witty comments.
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Ch24: BENDING BOUNDARIES
I crawled out from the pain of yesterday
I crawled to you and
I said all the things that you said to say
Have I said enough?
Do you like it yeah yeah
(Our Lady Peace - Do You Like It)
The Death Eaters kept Harry busy for the next few weeks at the Stone Edge. He had a lot to learn after all, as he did not remember anything from his past life. All he knew was how to cast the Three Most Powerful curses.
He learned all kind of things; how to move without a sound and make himself invisible. How to slash someone's throat without uttering a word. How to disappear from one place and reappear in an other. How to create a large, green skull like his Dark Mark on the sky. How to immobilize the enemy and how to confuse them. He also learned how to respond to the Dark Mark on his arm, that turned darker every day. Sometimes, when Harry undressed he could had sworn he smelled burned flesh, something that almost freaked him out in the beginning. He did not ask about it of course, as he figured it had to be normal.
Fifteen days after he "gained membership" among the Death Eaters he got the opportunity to try the Killing curse on a person for the first time. The person chosen was a middle aged, fat man with a large mustache, a balding head and a big nose. Harry was told that the man had tried to expose Voldemort's location by feeding a Death Eater with Veritasaterum. The man ought to be killed, but was not important enough for Voldemort to do so himself.
Harry was led into a small, dark lit room with gloomy walls and no windows. The foolish man was waiting for him there, stuck to a chair with his hand bound behind his back. Harry turned to his mentor, Peter Pettigrew, who gave him an encouraging nod. He had always shown special interest in Harry. Harry turned his attention forward again and asked with a lazy voice: "Do you know why you are here?"
"Y - yes," the man stuttered, terrified, "but I do not regret it! Someone will avenge me and then you will pay! You scum deserve to rot in hell for what you have done! Kill me if you want, but I would have done the same thing over again!"
"Is that so?" asked Harry, refusing to let the words unnerve him. Weakness was something that he had been taught not to associate himself with. "What about your wife and children? Would they miss you, perhaps? Or do you want us to put them out of their misery as well?"
The man paled. "You would not - !"
"Oh, but we can."
"Please no..."
"Good work, Harry," said Pettigrew with a small voice, "now you can kill him."
Harry sighed silently, the time had come. He raised his wand, but noted with shock that his hands were quivering... his eyes locked with the man's and he saw the horror there.... this is wrong, a voice inside his head told him, the man does not deserve to die, this is wrong!
Harry licked his suddenly dry lips nervously; there was no time to think about that now. The man was going to die anyway and Harry did not want to put himself on that list.
"I am going to kill you now," he said quietly and surprisingly the man nodded and closed his eyes.
Harry closed his eyes too, briefly, because he had to summon all his hate and all his need to make the man pay for what he had done, something that was more difficult to do than earlier for some reason. "Avada Kedavra."
The man's body went limp. Harry never knew his name.
-
Harry had expected to feel relieved after his performance, but he did not. Surely, his mind had enjoyed it the taste of power and he felt a new type of calm in his body, but his gut still told him he had done a mistake and that was bothering him. He felt as though he had been parted in two: the part of him that had the Dark Mark longed for power and another part of him felt anxious and scared. Hell, just the fact that he felt scared scared him! It was unacceptable.
The man's face followed Harry everywhere. Even though the man was dead Harry often thought he saw him around; either under a fat Death Eater's robe or in the mirror behind him or even in his teacup. Harry often relived the scene he had just experienced in his dreams, only then he would be the one sitting on the chair. However, he was always spared and ironically that bothered him a great deal too.
Every day Harry managed a new spell he felt the Dark Lord's interest in him growing. The wizard often watched Harry practice with different Death Eaters, something that always resulted in the Death Eaters pushing Harry harder towards his limits. Sometimes Harry only had a couple of hours per day free to do what he wanted and relax, and more than once did he had to take a Strengthening potion to keep up as well as a Muscle builder from time to time.
What Harry did not understand though, was why the Dark Lord hesitated in letting him come along on raids. He had not even been allowed outside the building! Had he not proved himself enough? He did not ask about it though. He had seen what happened to those who dared to question the Dark Lord.
Harry did not really know how long he had been in that place. It could have been weeks, months or even years. The building he lived in was the only world he knew and the Death Eaters were the only creatures he knew.
Except a certain large snake that Harry found after a training session.
He was not afraid of the serpent. Instead he laid down on the floor and peered at the Dark Lord's pet closely. He felt convinced that the snake would not hurt him.
"Hi," said Harry. He did not notice that he did not speak English.
The serpent looked puzzled for a moment. "Hello, human."
"What is your name?" asked Harry.
"Nagini. Do you not recognizzze me?"
"Should I?"
"Dependsss on if my Massster wantsss you to."
"Why?"
"He holdsss all the power in hisss hand. He controlsss everything, even my body sometimes," replied the serpent.
"He can do that?" asked Harry perplexed, but eager to learn how to do it.
"Yesss, but it hurtsss. I do not like it. He doesss weird thingsss."
"Like what?"
"I can not exssplain it properly. It issss like he usssesss me to get into other headsss, like yoursss."
"Mine?" asked Harry, a seed of uneasiness planted in his gut.
"Yesss. That isss the reassson I asssked if you recognizzzed me."
"No, I do not... sorry." Harry figured it would be a good idea to change subject. "How old are you?"
"Thirty seven Seasons old."
"I do not know my age," said Harry, feeling a little sad. "But I must be around seventeen of eighteen since our Lord decided I was good enough to join him."
Nagini said nothing, because her attention was suddenly distracted of something from the door behind him. Harry turned around and spotted the Dark Lord by the door.
His heart leapt and he slowly got to his feet. He hoped he had not done anything wrong.
"What happened here?" asked the older man, looking at the Serpent.
"Nothing my Lord," replied Harry and bowed. "Nagini and I were just talking." He noticed that the last part sounded different somehow when he voiced it and to his surprise he saw the Dark Lord's eyes widen, as though it was unexpected.
"So it is true? You talk snake language?" He did not sound angry, but strangely eager.
"Snake language? Yeah, I can speak to snakes if that is what you meant, my Lord."
"Really?" the crimson eyed man inquired. "Curious, very curious indeed."
"How so, my Lord?" said Harry and bowed again. For some reason he avoided eye contact.
"It is a very uncommon gift. It is a honor to have it."
"Thank you, my Lord," breathed Harry, not sure what else to say to this.
"Follow me."
Harry blinked, but resisted the urge to ask why and quickly followed the retreating figure. They walked out of the room soundlessly with quick, long steps, their breath the only thing audible. On their way they passed a couple of Death Eaters that Harry did not really know, but he kept his head up proudly and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were afraid of him. They were not exactly brilliant and he could easily beat them both if he had to.
They entered a large, heavy looking green door and Harry found himself in a comfortable room containing a large couch and a throne with a large carpet underneath. Harry was told to sit and he did, noticing that they were not alone in the room. The Dark Lord snapped his fingers and a black haired woman stepped forth, her eyes shallow and her lips thin. Harry frowned slightly; he did not like the woman too much.
"Bella," the Dark Lord said softly, lifting her chin up with two fingers. "You look awful."
"Yes, my Lord. I am sorry, my Lord."
The pale Lord smirked and forced her face to look towards Harry. "You better pull yourself together. This is a big day for the young man over there."
Harry's eyes widened slightly, but he quickly covered his shock and excitement with a carefully constructed mask. Bellatrix's black eyes narrowed slightly, a sneer forming on her lips that she failed miserably to hide. The Dark Lord ignored them and continued:
"If he passes this test today he will be my Heir for certain. He fills all the requirements, there is nothing more I could possibly want from one. I will meet with you then. For now you are dismissed."
The woman nodded quickly and fled the room. The Dark Lord turned his attention back to Harry, who stiffened slightly. Both of them knew what was on stake. Succeed or die. Heir or no Heir. The image of the man Harry had killed flashed through his head for a brief second, reminding him of what he had done. He suppressed it quickly and stood. The Dark Lord snapped his fingers again, calling a house elf that brought them an tattered, old boot and some black clothes that Harry quickly put on. He was also given a white mask he recognized.
Obediently he rested his fingers on the boot's soft leather, waiting.
"One, two, three..." the room disappeared in a swirl of colors and the next second Harry knew he found himself in an empty alley, darkness surrounding the small brick houses on each side of the road.
He took in his surroundings. He had never been outside before that moment and the cold and fresh air felt like needles against his skin. His teeth clattered for a second before he pulled himself together. There was no time to investigate or focus on other things than his task.
When the Lord saw that he was ready he began to walk swiftly towards a house further down the road, Harry closely behind. In the distance they could hear the faint roar of traffic, but Harry did not what the sound was. He had not heard anything like that when he had stayed in the Stone Edge.
The halted in front of a small, blue door. By the bell Harry read John and Lucia Smith.
"Squibs," said the Dark Lord quietly and Harry nodded. He had been told what that was: Children of magical parents who could not do magic themselves, but pretended they had the same rights as the rest of the Wizarding population. "What I want you to do is to torture them a bit before killing them. Originality will be rewarded. Pretend that I am not here."
"Yes, my Lord," said Harry and bowed shortly before turning to the door again. He had to kill again... shaking his head he quickly thought Alohomora and the door swung open with a small, complaining sound.
The house was rather small. Harry could see a staircase to the left and to the right he saw a couple of doors. A quick look confirmed they led to a kitchen and a bathroom. Seeing that there were no one there they quickly went up the stairs.
Harry tried not to think about what he had to do too much. The more he thought about it the more he wanted to get away. No, his life had to come first and then he could consider the others, that was that. He straightened up a little and quickened his steps. He wanted to do this quickly and get it over with.
He was surprised to see a small living room at the top of the stairs, with many different, warm colors. Back in the Stone Edge he had rarely seen other colors than grey, black and green. Lost in thoughts he elbowed a vase and it fell to the floor and broke. He jumped and swore inwardly, feeling the Dark Lord's glare at him. He knew he had to act quickly, so he took a chance and broke another vase with a wave of his wand. He had to make it look like he had done it on purpose. When he heard nothing he bombed the wall in front of him, making stone, paint and pictures fly everywhere.
That woke the inhabitants of the house.
"Honey, what's going on?" asked a female voice from the room to Harry's left.
"I don't know Lucia, stay there and I'll check it out..."
Harry steeled himself. The moment the door in front of him opened he fired a strong cutting curse. The man in the doorway yelped and jumped back, drenching the place in blood. Harry was faintly surprised himself when he saw that the hand he had hit had been cut off completely. The man went into shock and slid down to the floor, holding his stumped hand tightly, whimpering. Suddenly he opened his mouth to scream, but Harry had already silenced him.
Harry knew he had to play this carefully so he opened the door to his left with a soft Alohomora. A middle - aged woman peeked out of the door, but saw her husband before she saw Harry and the Dark Lord and rushed to the man.
"Oh my God! John!" she breathed and kneeled in front of him, not knowing what to do.
"Hello," said Harry, removing his mask and the woman wheeled around, her eyes bulging. Obviously she had lived long enough in the Wizarding world to know who were standing in front of her.
"You... and you!" she whispered, the color draining from her face so quickly that Harry thought she might faint. "You're supposed to-! It cannot be!"
"Crucio," said Harry and the woman instantly collapsed to the floor, shaking and twisting and screaming in pain. The man had stopped whimpering and could only stare at the scene in front of him. He had yet to register what was happening to his wife. Harry ended the curse. "A little slow, are we?" he asked the man, but got no response. He remembered that he had silenced the man so he quickly ended the curse with a silent Finite Incantatum.
The man called John shook his head slowly and pinched his arm.
"You are not dreaming," said Harry quietly, tempted to close his eyes and pretend he was somewhere else or dreaming as well.
"Please... she's pregnant! We've tried to have a baby ever since we met each other more than twenty years ago! Have mercy!"
Pregnant... he had to kill three.
Harry felt nauseous, but there was nothing he could do. He had to kill them.
To making a good show for the Dark Lord he tortured the couple for several minutes with a Cruciatus Curse that could have been stronger, but still worked. He also sent a Gashing charm at the woman's stomach so that blood began to pour out, surely killing the baby in the process. Harry ignored the slight stab he felt in his heart and killed off the woman quickly and turned to the man, only to find him unconscious because of the shock and the blood loss. Trembling Harry steeled himself again and killed the man completely. His task was done.
Now the only question was if he had done it well enough.
- .
Rest in peace Fredrik...
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