Did you really think I was dead...it takes more than life to kill me off. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight
for her work on this chapter.
Chapter 43: A Dark Reveal
*****************************Little Hangleton*****************************
11:15 pm
In a dark, abandoned cemetery, just down an overgrown and unkempt lawn from a dark, abandoned manor house, a ring of torches; their flames a sickly green, lit a flat, altar-like slab. Within the ring, a dozen, dark cloaked shapes surrounded the altar, where a tall, cloaked figure stood, looking down at the altar. His hood was thrown back, revealing dark black hair, worn long, and pulled back into a tail, gathered with a silver ring set with a black stone.
He smirked slightly as he took in the altar. Harriet was lying on it, face up, with her hands bound together and pulled tight above her head, and her legs spread slightly as her ankles were bound to corners of the rectangle. Her Hogwarts uniform was torn and ripped, her tie gone and her shirt ripped enough to show part of her bra, and her skirt was ripped alongside one leg, consequences of her futile attempts to escape. A slow drip of blood came from that leg, staining the white stone, or rather adding new stains to the stone.
As she was squirming, fighting her bonds, and yelling mutely around the gag in her mouth, he ran long fingers along her cheek. Her silvery-grey eyes widened, and glowed faintly as he ran his fingers down her neck, and along the bare stripe of skin exposed by her torn shirt. She moved as much as she could and he laughed, stepping back and vanishing her gag with a vague gesture.
Harriet took a breath, "Sirius is going to kill you," she snarled and twisted against his touch.
"Such a gorgeous little thing," the dark one murmured, he flicked one finger and she froze, only her head moving as he idly pushed aside part of her shirt, and examined the bit of black lace he found. "So much could be yours, my lovely little seer, so much power, wealth...anything you want. Join me, join with me, and the world will be yours."
"I will never be yours," Harriet snapped, almost catching one of his fingers in her teeth as he caressed her cheek.
"Either way, my dear," he replied quietly, "Your blood or your..." he smirked, "yourself, it does not matter, either way, what I need will be mine." He moved down the slab, letting his fingers trail along the outside of her leg, "I have certain...skills, it would be pleasurable." He looked over as Bellatrix joined him, looking down at Harriet, "What to do with her, mother?"
"Take her blood," Bellatrix snarled lowly, "she is a blood-traitor, worse than a Mudblood...you can find a true, unspoiled one worthy of you..."
Harriet giggled, darkly, only a hint of hysteria in the sound, and both of them looked to her, "You are about a month too late..."
With narrowed eyes, he took two steps to the head of the altar, and his hand flashed, backhanding her.
She turned her head to the side, spiting out blood and glared back up at him, "Are you going to kill me or bore me to death?"
"I assure you that you will soon have no such concerns, pity that I don't have time to discuss the other, despite it's purposelessness." The Dark Lord stepped away from her, "You would have come to enjoy it...after a time, begged for my touch..."
Harriet turned her head, closing her eyes, Sirius...help me... A dark laughter ran out and she fought back a scream as Bellatrix gestured and a searing yellow beam ripped into her, shattering nerves. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she convulsed, and a loud snapping POP, came from her left shoulder. Bellatrix dismissed the spell and Harriet continued to writhe, as the fire continued to randomly race along her nerves.
The Dark One reached up and pushed down Bellatrix's wand as she lifted it again, "No...we would hate to have her die or go insane-before the hour is right."
He turned at a soft sound, to find Maraisah kneeling, still in her Hogwarts uniform.
"Yes?" he hissed, looking down at her, as she prostrated herself in front of him.
"May I see to Antares now, M'Lord?" she murmured, the back of her neck bare to his gaze.
He leered, and then looked to Naomi, who was standing with several of the Slytherins, "Not quite yet." He pointed a long finger at Naomi, then crooked it, "Come here."
She glanced to the side, and found no help, not in this gathering, the Slytherins standing with her, taking a subtle half-step back. Naomi approached tremulously, stopping just out of reach.
Growling impatiently, he gestured, Naomi shot forward to hang in the air in front of him. Grinning, he pointed at Maraisah and she floated upward to hang next to the other girl, both of them with their feet several inches above the ground. Off to the side, Xavier tried to move forward, but was stopped by the hands of his companions on his shoulders. The Dark One smiled at him, "Xavier, do you not agree that your daughter should, properly, pay for her failures, and since she has taken responsibility for Parker's, his as well?"
Xavier did the only thing he could; he nodded.
"Excellent." His open hand closed abruptly into a fist, and a tearing sound filled the air as both girls' clothes were ripped from them, to land in shredded piles at their feet.
Naomi made a soft, whimpering sound, as she tried to twist in the air to cover herself, while Maraisah just looked resigned. Her eyes cut over to the side, finding Antares sitting on the ground next to a headstone.
He started to stand, and crumbled as a Death Eater kicked his leg out from under him.
The byplay did not go unnoticed, as Bellatrix giggled, and the Dark One slowly walked around the girls, nodding occasionally as he examined them. He let them float back down to the ground, unfreezing them, "Go to my chambers, be sure to-entertain-each other while you wait...Crandle, make sure that my chambers are readied, we will have much to celebrate tonight."
A dark chuckle passed around the assembled Death Eaters, as Naomi shuddered afresh and her legs wobbled. She looked down as Maraisah interlaced her fingers with hers, and pulled Naomi in front of her, Maraisah turning her back on the Dark One as she leaned forward and kissed Naomi. More laughter filled the air, as Maraisah pulled back slightly, "It's the only way, don't fight it," she whispered against the other girl's lips, "it'll be nice, luv, at least until he gets there...I promise you'll be alright."
Naomi just nodded to something in Maraisah's eyes, and let the other girl slowly lead her away, up the lawn towards the old manor house.
Crandle trailed at a distance, the set of his shoulders revealing the position of his eyes, even though a hood covered his head, as he watched their arses as they climbed the hill.
The Dark One laughed and looked around at his gathered followers as still more appeared out of the darkness, stepping into the diseased light from the torches. "Tonight," he began, stepping to the altar, "Tonight, the end comes to those fools, tonight, because of an act of their own, they will provide for my ascension. Tonight, at the stroke of night, I will become powerful beyond their darkest dreams, and the blood-traitors and Mudbloods, will quake at my passage. Tonight, we will take back what is ours by right."
He turned back to Harriet, "And it is all thanks to you, my dear. Who would have thought that a family of Blood Traitors would bring forth their own destruction?" He stroked her throat with his fingers before stepping back.
"Get her ready, Mother," he murmured as he stepped away, an aura of darkness following him as he moved into the darkness outside of the ring of torches.
Bellatrix laughed highly as she pulled a small, sharp knife from her pocket, flipped it open and swiftly cut away the remnants of Harriet's blouse, leaving her only in her black lace bra. One she had chosen so, so many hours ago for its effect on Sirius, and a torn and tattered school skirt. Harriet squirmed and fought her bonds as Bellatrix started to place lit blood-red candles around the stone. With another high laugh, she pushed Harriet's skirt aside, nicking her leg high up on the inner thigh, missing the artery by millimeters.
Harriet screamed, as Bella giggled, and gathered a bit of the redhead's blood on her fingers before taking it and drawing a rough oval around Harriet with her own blood. "Since you are spoiled," she hissed, leaning close to Harriet, "We need your blood from somewhere else."
The redhead's eyes rolled around in her head, as Bella gathered more blood, to finish the oval, leaving the wound to drip. Shuddering breaths cut through the air, as Harriet gathered herself, and locked eyes with Bellatrix. The mother of darkness froze, as a spike of cold, like the breath of space itself shot through her veins, and Harriet's soft, whispered words filled her ears as if it were the only sound in the world.
"You will die, I will see your head tumble to the ground at my feet, and I will laugh."
Bellatrix stepped back, "CRUCIO," the searing, hated yellow beam ripped into Harriet, causing her to twist against her bonds, tearing more of her already battered body as it fought against the restraints. "I will enjoy watching you die," Bella murmured, "watching your lifeblood slip away, as it opens the doorway to the deaths of all those you hold dear."
Somewhere in the darkness, beyond the light of the torches, nine lumps laid invisibly in the darkness. These figures were either hidden under invisibility cloaks, one of the few infiltration suits that were at Hogwarts, or under Disillusionment Charms, and every one under the cover of a large Aura Diffuser, the latest model from the Twins. Unless they moved, would keep them hidden even from the Dark One. It had been tested against Dumbledore. One of those four started to move, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder, holding him down as he tried to rise.
"Not yet," Emilia's soft soprano whispered in his ear, even as Rain held him down on the other side. The three of them were utterly invisible, and able to talk to each other over the communication sets built into the suits, ones that interfaced with beads in each of the other kids' ears. "We have to wait."
"They're hurting her," Sirius whispered desperately, his heart cracking at every hint of sound that came up the hill. Twenty meters away, a pair of Death Eaters were standing watch, half looking into the dark and half blinded by the light of the torches; Sirius spared them a glare, "We have to-"
"Not yet," Emilia pleaded, her voice just as desperate as another of Harriet's cries came up the hill.
They stopped abruptly and Sirius gasped, the noise carrying enough to make the Death Eaters turn in their way. Everyone froze, even though they were all effectively invisible, before they turned away again after a minute passed without incident. Even though Emilia could not see them, she knew his eyes were filled with pain as he responded over the mirrors, the subvocalization inaudible past a foot or two, "She knows I'm here...she's in bad shape, Em, they've tortured her..."
Emilia nodded, before she changed channels on her mirror again, desperately hoping to reach her parents, but still no contact. "They outnumber us ten to one, Sirius..."
"So," he growled, "We kill every fucking one of them, they won't outnumber us if they are dead."
"I love her too, Sirius," Emilia whispered desperately, "But if we get killed, then she will still die..."
"I'm dead if she is, Em," Sirius reminded her, his eyes staring at the stone bier where he could see Harriet, as she turned to look into the darkness, unerringly directly at his eyes. "Be sure to explain that to Mum and Dad, won't you?" he added as he settled back down, his wand in hand and pointing towards the darkness-towards an invisible point between the left and right lobes of Bellatrix's brain.
"As soon as they start, Sirius," Em promised, "They'll be distracted, and we'll attack."
***************************Ministry of Magic******************************
11:30pm
Hermione sat silently, looking straight ahead at the wall opposite her, deep within the confines of the Ministry. Far behind the various wards, spells, and physical armor that secured them twelve stories below ground, from anything, attack, communication, even, supposedly, psychic links. She stared down at a stone-cold mug of coffee, one that she vaguely remembered accepting almost an hour ago.
Movement drew her eyes, and she sighed, as Harry sat down next to her, pulling her head into his shoulder. He turned his head, kissing the top of hers, "How are we going to explain this, Harry...how are we going to tell Nate and Justin...whatever their parents did in the past, they didn't deserve this."
Harry just nodded, even as he held his lips to her hair, "No, they didn't, Love, no one does-" He trailed away as Dumbledore walked slowly into the room with the aid of a knotted, pure white staff, trailed by Remus and Tonks, who both took seats well away from the Headmaster as he sat at the table across from the Potters. Harry slowly lifted his head from Hermione's and stared across at Dumbledore flintily.
"Ron and Luna are down at the...morgue. They are taking care of the arrangements. Wendel is supervising the autopsies, but so far it looks like they were right..." Tonks swallowed and closed her eyes, letting her long dark hair fall limply in front of her eyes.
Dumbledore started to speak, his mouth opened, only to watch as Hermione slowly lifted her hand, cutting him off. She visibly held in some comment, "It's far too late, Albus. About thirty-five years too late, now..."
"Yes," Dumbledore agreed tiredly, "it is. Arthur has yet to be informed?"
Remus shook his head, "He is with Ron; I don't think that you want to talk to him right now, Albus. He did ask that you arrange for Nate and Justin to be pulled aside until Harry or Hermione can get to them to talk, as they are the heads of House Black." Remus shrugged, "I will, of course, have a team sent back with you to provide security for them to return if they wish. I have a team at Black Manor, securing it, though this does seem like Snape had the plot to himself. We have located the solicitor that he had holding his blackmail evidence, and I have a Black Ops team securing the evidence. We will classify it...It's the best solution."
Harry sighed helplessly and scrubbed at his eyes, just as a knock sounded at the door. A white-faced young woman, barely out of Hogwarts, slipped in, holding a small scrap of parchment. She darted across the room, leaning down between Harry and Hermione, as she was one of theirs, a third year cadet at the Auror academy, undergoing her field training.
Hermione glanced over at Harry, and vanished, the wards breaking with a CRACK and a flashbulb snap of light. Harry pushed the paper across the table and followed, as Remus picked up the scrap of paper, and his face became ashen. "Neville just returned to the castle, after having to run into Hogsmeade for something...The kids are gone from the school..."
***************************Little Hangleton******************************
11:59 pm
Harriet lay dangling on the edge of unconsciousness, where she had been for the last fifteen minutes at least, fighting to stay awake, aware. Waiting in the silent, unrelenting knowledge that help would arrive. Even so, however, even with the pain that fought to hammer her unconscious at best, or make her scream out at worst, she had clamped the link to Sirius closed, lest she might betray him in some way. A rapid blink of her eyes fought to keep a trickle of blood from them, as she moved her eyes about, trying to take in her captors' actions and positions, looking even now for a way to escape into the night.
The blood from the cut in her inner thigh was flowing warmly down her leg, each drip draining her a bit more, as she felt a dark, unfeeling cold emanating from a dark, wood box that had been set between her legs a few minutes back. A large, worn leather-bound book rested against that, the leather not that from a cow or a deer or even a pig-the thought of which she had repressed forcibly even more so than her ignoring of the occasional touch from one of the milling Death Eaters.
A sudden silence filled the clearing as the Dark One approached from out of the deep shadows cast by the green torches spread about the altar she was on. A small sneer filled his handsome face, as he let his fingers trail up from her stomach, and over her chest before stroking her cheek.
He moved his fingers to the side just in time to avoid her teeth and laughed, before he reached down to the dark box and opened it with the flick of two fingers.
Harriet cried out, as a sudden hard, unnaturalness caused her to shudder, sending her insides into tight, hard bundles. Silent tears escaped her eyes as she felt her own powers fighting the sudden intrusion of evil. Her eyes widened and Sirius' name filled her lips, though fortunately remained unsaid, as she reached out instinctively to touch the bright source of power that suddenly reinforced her own.
The thread of power was undetected by the Dark One however; as he lifted the knife and touched the leather-bound book once more. "I am sorry, you were lovely..." The dark, twisted blade flashed faster than thought to her already bleeding thigh, slashing deeper into it.
Thick, red blood spread along the twists and turns of the blade, and as they filled, runes set along the blade lit with an unholy greenish-yellow light. He held it up in the light of the torches, "Patefacio ianua of vicis per cruor of insons insontis." The hand holding the dagger snapped down as if the evil blade were a whip, sending a spray of Harriet's blood through the air towards the space just past her head...
The blood seemed to vanish into nothingness, and the air seemed to contract at once, before a deafening crack like a jet fighter breaking the sound barrier a foot from one's ear, staggered all those standing. A bright, silver point grew and slowly expanded until a shimmering, two-dimensional opalescent oval, about six feet tall in the long direction, hung at her head.
He turned back to Harriet, "Goodbye, my dear...Veneficus of verus versus reverto volo-"
Lightning lit the night, blinding every eye. As they cleared a forked branching bolt, colored a seething, rolling black, snapped from the portal to impact the Dark One. His arms snapped outward, as twin red suns filled his eyes and dim, nearly invisible ultraviolet colored flames danced around his fingers, even as he slowly rose in the air. The bolt cut off with another crack, and he let his hands drop, even as he settled lightly back on his feet.
He lifted the blade back over his head, positioning the tip above her heart.
"NO!"
*************************Hogwarts************************************
12:05 am
"And where, exactly did they go?" Hermione growled, pacing in front of the assembled, remaining family members scattered about the Common Room. She looked over to Harry, who shook his head, his hands shoved far down in his pockets to keep from wringing them in from of him.
Virginia looked up from the couch, frowning as she idly stroked Kris' side, she bit her lip, "We don't know for sure, they took Harriet, and they went after them...I think that Sirius was leading them where they needed to go."
The entire room turned to the portrait hole as it opened and Luna stepped in, followed closely by Ron. He was leading her by the elbow, almost as if she was not quite seeing the here and now, and as she looked to Hermione, her silver eyes glowing like moons, it was obvious that she was not. "They are in the place that the darkness took hold once before, and tries to again...Where the son of darkness seeks to become one with his sire..."
Nodding, Hermione stepped forward and caught Luna's other arm as she stumbled, blinking heavily. "Little Hangleton," Hermione growled, and looked back to Harry.
He closed his eyes, and sighed as he felt the rest of the Gryffindor getting to their feet, and a bleak smiled fell on his lips. A greenish glow leaked from under his lids, as he shook his head morosely, "No, all of you are staying here. Ron, are you and Luna ready?"
Ron nodded, and walked over to Harry, grabbing his arm as he slung a sheath over his shoulder, letting his dagger, which was currently in its short sword form, hang inverted down his back. Harry opened his eyes and looked over to find Hermione and Luna with the blonde standing with her back to her 'sister's front, Hermione's arm around her waist with the other on top of it, her wand already in her hand.
Hermione reached up and touched her ear, activating the ear bud that she had put in on the run, along with the rest of her combat blacks. A soft, three-note tone rang in her ear as the mirror it was linked to established the extensive Arithmatic encryption protecting the Auror comms. "Tonks," she muttered, not caring that those in this room could overhear.
"Go, Bookworm," Tonks replied with a faint trembling in her voice, audible even over the flatness of the encrypted channel.
"Little Hangleton."
"Wotcher fuck."
"Yeah." Hermione took a breath, "We're leaving now...get your arse there ASAP."
"Confirm," Tonks swallowed, "Hermione..."
"We'll get them back, Tonks, get everyone you can find. Bring them as heavy as possible. Clear." Hermione glanced over at Harry, her eyes filled with the terror that she could not let her mouth give voice.
"The rest of you, tell Dumbledore when he gets here, that we went to Little Hangleton, and send along the rest of the help, and someone find Poppy and have her brought along." The four of them vanished between heartbeats, and the Gryffindor Common Room exploded into action.
**************************Little Hangleton********************************
Ten Death Eaters fell almost before the sound from Sirius' scream faded away, two to him and another pair to his sister, neither one of them breaking stride in the slightest as they charged through the ring of Death Eaters towards the altar. Rain, Xander and Justin followed them, a loud crunch carried as Xander broke the neck of another one, and suddenly the forlorn hope was standing in the center of the cleared area, surrounded by at least another forty Death Eaters.
Dark smoky columns appeared at the edge of the torches' light as the Death Eater's numbers doubled, and half again.
"Look...new playthings," the Dark One laughed and sent a forked beam of canary racing towards the teens.
Tombstones shot through the air, intercepting the beams, and shattered into gravel. Emilia let her wand track over towards the face that a distant, quavering part of her soul identified as the eighteen-year-old living, breathing image of Tom Riddle. Behind and around her, she could feel the reactions of the others; all of them having grown up after, indeed their entire existences were predicated on the generation-ago defeat of Lord Voldemort.
"Who...who are you?" Emilia asked, carefully not letting her eyes flick to the side as Sirius tried to start to edge around him, towards Harriet. The thick, multi-layered anti-Apparition and Portkey wards pressed in on her, ones that only a Phoenix could break on the way out.
A gesture and a stone wall appeared in Sirius' path, "No, I don't think so..." The Dark One muttered as he turned back to Emilia. The rest of the group of teens slowly circled, their wands facing outward, as the unnamed one seemed to ponder the question for an instant, "There is a certain symmetry at hand, one might say," he said, seeming to fight laughter. "The Potter heirs...and their few friends against me and my armies...I do not have a name...not really, not as ones such as yourselves would understand it. I have never limited myself to such frivolities. However, you might as well call me...Lord Voldemort."
Emilia licked her lips and reached back over her shoulder, pulling free the custom blade that rode her back. She felt a warm rush as the glow in her eyes brightened, along with that of her brother's. "That's fine," she replied very quietly, "My parents killed the first one, I suppose that we should only do our part."
"Such confidence," he smirked and flicked a hand. A turquoise wave flung Justin from his feet, sending him crashing into a headstone, where he lay moaning. "There is much potential in you," he went on as Rain quivered in near motion beside Emilia wanting to race to Justin, but not daring to move-yet. He grinned, "Did I hurt the little boy...No matter," he added with a shrug, "Just a son of a traitor, I would have gotten to him eventually."
Emilia's hand that held her wand snapped to the side, halting Rain as the girl started to gather herself to the attack, and the self-styled Voldemort laughed along with many of his followers. She could feel Abigail and Elliot slowly picking their way around the edge of the clearing, still in darkness, and carefully kept them out of her mind.
Instead Emilia looked to her right, to her brother who was desperately wanting to battle, even if it was hopeless save for that tiny chance, to escape with their lives. Sirius took a breath and reached over his shoulder, as he sheathed his wand. A brief flicker of movement and he reappeared next to Bellatrix, his blade at the Dark Witch's throat, "Let us go or she dies," he snapped, and glanced over his shoulder at Harriet, "All of us."
"But why would I want to do that?" the Dark Lord mused, "she has served her purpose...let her die, why would I care?" He shrugged as he turned fully to Sirius, "Go ahead-"
"NOW," Emilia snapped and a double handful of marble-sized, glowing yellow sphere arced out of the night, and detonated in a shower of viridian sparks. Instantly, almost every Death Eater surrounding the teens collapsed as the Immobilization Spheres detonated. Sirius dove to the side, shielding himself and letting Bella escape as he fired a pulse at the Dark Lord, rocking him back a dozen feet and driving him through the surrounding ring of Death Eaters.
Well there we go, once more into the breech.