Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or HBP would have been different.
A/N: My response to my own challenge, "The New Dark Lord". The requirements are included in the prologue. Please, if you read, leave me a comment. It makes me happy.
Encounter
Once he finished writing, he folded the letter, and left it in the secret room. There was something that needed to be done before he could send it.
"Malfoy!" he called.
The blonde young man entered the Throne Room.
"Have you called, Master?" he asked bowing.
"Yes. It's time to move to conquer the power. Take Bellatrix and Dolohov, and kidnap the Minister's brat," he said, dark green eyes flashing and a sneer coming on his lips. "It's time she learns what Lord Eversor can do."
Now, the Minister's house was not easy to break into. There were many Aurors guarding it, both because of her role, and because with the fear rising in the Wizarding World again. She understood the pressures the previous Ministers were under, when Voldemort's menace had risen, and with her husband they had wanted to provide protection over their family, not just for themselves, but mostly for their child.
Dolohov and the other two Apparated nearby. Lord Eversor watched their progress from the manor, his eyes closed and his mind focused on them. He could see images in his head about what they were doing, it was a practice he had learned in the five years since he had vanished from the Wizarding World. It was based on long distance Legilimency, and he was able to see from his servants' eyes the situation.
The three snuck up to the building, and killed the first two Aurors, but then the alarms rang and twenty more came. The three of them were ready to Apparate away and face the wrath of the Master when a black phoenix-shaped cloud hovered over the Aurors and green lightning bolts erupted from it, burning their opponents.
In his manor Lord Eversor smirked, retreating his outstretched hand. "Aurors. So useless when confronted with a power such as my own."
The three servants entered the building, killed the baby-sitter easily, and took the toddler away. She had curly red hair and brown eyes, and never shut up once she was in the manor.
The Dark Lord wanted so badly to kill her, but he couldn't. He needed the brat alive, to carry on his plan. And he could not torture her too, because that would have her screaming and talking even more. So he grew frustrated.
The letter he had written was sent, and soon arrived to the receiver carried by a black hawk.
The Dark Phoenix mark was on it.
Minister Weasley opened it shakily, she had just been told about the abduction of her daughter and had just arrived home with her husband.
"Minister,
Meet me in the Shrieking Shack in a week, at dusk. Alone.
Do not bring Aurors or that git of your husband, or your beloved
daughter will die. No tricks of any kind, or she will die. I want to
speak with you and no one else.
Lord Eversor"
She had read it aloud, tears in her eyes.
"The bastard," Ron swore. "We're gonna take him. He's foolish enough to challenge us, we will be there. All the Auror Department, under Invisibility Cloaks. We'll get him."
"No," Hermione said.
"What? Love, he's got Lily!" Ron said.
"Exactly. And he is cruel. He won't hesitate to kill her, if we were to trap him. No, I'll go alone, as he asked."
"No way. I'll be there. Under the cloak, no one will see me. I won't do a thing, unless he harms you."
After a quick discussion, it was decided. Ron would be there, hidden.
The time for the encounter came, and Hermione steeled herself, entering the shack. She remembered when they had been there in their third year, with Harry. They learned the truth about Sirius.
She briefly wondered if she was to learn another shocking truth now, but she hoped with all her heart she was wrong, and pushed the thought away with as much force as she could.
They waited there nervously for some time, Ron in a corner, under the cloak, she sitting on what remained of the bed, till suddenly, without the slightest noise, an hooded figure appeared in front of her.
"Minister," he mockingly bowed.
"Lord Eversor. You wanted to speak with me, show yourself first," Hermione said, narrowing her eyes and moving her hand to grab her wand.
The figure scanned the area suspiciously, then raised his hand. "Fool of a Weasley, did you think I would not know you were here?" he said, wandlessly Accioing the cloak, and immediately stunning Ron before he could even move.
Then he grabbed Hermione by the waist and Apparated away through her shrieks.
Once he arrived in the manor, Wormtail immediately saw her.
"Master, you've kidnapped the Minister. What a smart move…" he started, but the Lord interrupted him.
"It was not planned, Wormtail, so keep your praises. Her git of an husband was there. I could not risk an ambush."
With that he brought her in his secret room, and locked the door.
Then, he looked at her, who was staring defiantly at him.
"Where's my daughter?" she asked then.
"She's upstairs, well treated. Cried a bit once we brought her here, but then she calmed after more or less a day. She seems to have your wits, Hermione," Lord Eversor said softly, lowering his hood.
To say that Hermione Granger was shocked would have been the understatement of the year. Oh, she had suspected that at times, but never wanted to believe it. And, the shock that ensued was strong.
"Harry," she whispered. "Why?" she said then.
"Why, you ask," he said, pacing and laughing hollowly. "Why. I'll tell you why. Have you ever wondered why I respected you that much in school? Why I always defended you, and protected you? Why I panicked that much in the Department of Mysteries in fifth year? Have you, Hermione?"
"No, but…"
"Shut up," he said, glaring at her. "I was in love with you, then, Hermione. Never said that because I feared the bastard would use you to get at me. But once I finished him, I hoped I could finally have the happy life I wanted. I hoped to build a family with you," he said, tears starting to flow on his cheeks, as the good part in him came out again after years. "At that blasted party I wanted to ask you out, after the speech. I wanted you and me to be together. I searched for you, and what did I see? You and Ron kissing." He said, laughing hollowly again.
"Can't you see the irony of it? Ron was always jealous of me, my fame, my money, but then he got the only thing I really wanted, the only thing that would have made me happy, after seventeen years of hell. That was the last straw, and it drove me over the edge, onto a path I never thought I would take."
Hermione looked at him in wonder. She never suspected he had loved her. In fact, she had always thought he would never do that.
"But why did you become a Dark Lord, Harry? We could have talked about that…"
"Talk? It would have done no good. I was so hurt, Hermione. The anger at Voldemort I bottled up in the years, and at the Dursleys for mistreating me, all of that turned into hate for the Wizarding World. Hate for everyone. I turned into the last thing I wanted to become. Another Voldemort, only more powerful. Surely you wonder how my servants managed to kill more than twenty Aurors guarding your house. I did that, from here. Can you imagine such a power? Well, I stumbled upon it in the first months of my new life, reading an ancient book."
"We searched for you long, Harry," she said. "You can't imagine how much it hurt me to not see you anymore. I suspected it, at times, you know. But I did not want to believe you turned into what you had hated so much in your youth"
He tiredly sat on a chair in front of her, silently watching her, as if he was trying to embed the image in his memory.
Then he outstretched his hand, and unlocked the door, putting his hood up again.
"You can go to see your daughter now, Hermione," he said. "She's in the third room on the left. However, I'm sorry but I don't think I can let you go now. You'll have to live here."
With that he left.
After a moment of shock, she followed him. "Wait!" she said.
Harry turned, and noticed Wormtail eavesdropping.
"Avada Kedavra!" he cried, and the rat-like man lay dead on the floor. Hermione cringed at seeing Harry using the Killing Curse without the minimum remorse.
"Harry, what does it mean I can't leave?" she said.
"Exactly what I said. You will live here with me. Your husband will try to find you, and we will leave hints to him. He will come here with the whole Auror Department, and my cronies and I will end in Azkaban like we deserve. I do not expect you will be here for long," he said, leading the way to the upper floor. "I'm already tired of being a tyrant. I continuously feel my true self fighting to surface, and seeing you and talking to you brought it back in full force. I'm still hurt, but I don't want to be a Dark Lord anymore," he added as an afterthought.
"You won't end in Azkaban," she suddenly said.
"No? Well, you're right. I guess killing thousands of people and destroying and so on does not qualify for Azkaban material. Maybe a quick Dementor Kiss will do," he said sarcastically. "I can already see the Prophet, "Harry Potter the New Dark Lord" he laughed bitterly again.
"I'll find a way to keep you out of there. It was partly my fault, if you've become this…thing, and I want to help you out of it," she said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I'm past the point when you can save me, Hermione. You've always tried to save me from myself, but in the years we were apart I damned myself. I do not want your pity now, nor I want you losing your position for me," he said, glaring at her, and pushing her into the room her daughter was in, then he locked it and walked away.
"Mum?" Lily Weasley said.
She turned to see the small girl walk toward her.
"Hey, honey," she said, picking her up. "Don't worry, Daddy will come to help us."
"Mummy, who is that bad guy?"
"Has he treated you badly?" Hermione asked.
The girl shook her head. "No. At night he would even sneak in and play with me, when no one else noticed. But I know he's done bad things, and he pushed you. Has he hurt you?"
Hermione smiled. Although Harry was sure no one could help him, she knew from what she had seen and what her daughter had told her that there was still hope.
"No, honey, he hasn't," she said, bringing the little girl to the soft bed in the room. Soon later Lily fell asleep, and Hermione looked around the room. It was very well furnished, not at all the usual cell prisoners were held in.
She smiled again. Deep in Harry's heart his kindness still resided, and she swore she would bring that in the open again.
In the meantime, the stunner on Ron had wore off. He stood up, and saw that there was no trace of Hermione.
Swearing, he grabbed the cloak and Apparated to the Ministry. There, he called all the Aurors available in the briefing room.
"The Minister has been kidnapped. I want all of you working on this case, what you're doing now must be put aside. This is of maximum importance"
All nodded, and he told them the details of the encounter in the afternoon.
They set to work, while he was advised to go and rest at home. He didn't seem particularly fond of the idea, but in the end accepted.
His sleep however was all but restful. He thrashed, nightmares of his Hermione and Lily killed, tortured, or worse.
In the same moments, Lord Eversor created magical traces of him and his minions to lead the Aurors to the manor.
He let the wards down, and waited, sitting on his throne.
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