Disclaimer: Nope I don't own Harry Potter. Which is a shame, because it'd have gone Harmony if I did…
A/N: An idea I had just after reading DH to make right things after the crapilogue. Hope you'll like the story, and please if you read, review, thanks.
This is the updated version of chapter two, where the leader of the Voldemort's Avengers is not German but Dutch. Thanks to a review that made me notice how is name was more Dutch than German, I decided to change this, also as a form of respect to those German HP fans who might think it's always their people to do bad things, after all Grindelwald was German too.
After The Night, Sun Shines
Chapter Two: Voldemort's Avengers
Darkness enveloped the manor, as the night progressed. The sun had set a couple hours before, and by now any day light was gone. Rain was pouring heavily.
A lone man stood at the gates, and flicked his wand.
An ugly black hawk emerged from it's tip and it flew to the nearest window. Then the man waited, his head and body covered by an heavy black cloak. It was impossible to see the features of his face in that pitch black obscurity.
Few minutes later, the gates clicked open. He pushed the rusted metal so that he could enter, and then he walked up a stone path to the front doors, which were by now open too.
As he entered, he swirled his wand to dry his cloak, then approached the heavy wooden doors that hid the greatest room of the house. He could hear voices buzzing inside. The meeting had already started, it was clear.
Pushing them open, he walked in, and silence fell. Everyone sitting at the table turned his eyes on him, while he pushed the hood back to reveal blonde hair. He walked up to the empty spot, his spot, just near their master.
No one was to take his seat, because it was known he was the second in command, and he would not hesitate to kill whoever overstepped his boundaries trying to overcome him. His wand still clutched in his right hand, he sat, filled his goblet with Firewhiskey, and drank it in one single gulp.
"Nasty weather outside, uh?" he finally spoke.
It was like his words had released the whole room from a spell. A loud buzzing of voices could be heard, he knew most of them were whispering about where had he been to be late to this important meeting.
Only one dared to challenge him.
"You liked it enough to be late though" a black haired witch spat, glaring at the new arrived. She craved the importance he had in their organisation, and would love nothing more than to take his place as their master's preferred.
He sighed, twirling his wand in his fingers. "I had my reasons"
"That's what you always say" she spat back.
The newcomer flashed his blue eyes at her, anger clearly burning in them. "Dare to challenge me in duel over it, then?" he said, dangerously low, aiming his wand at her. She had her own out in a flash.
"Enough!" a strong commanding voice bellowed from the head of the table. They both turned to look at their lord, his grey eyes boring into them, and his black hair cascading on his face sides.
"We are here to discuss important matters on how to rise to the power, and punish Potter for killing Voldemort" he said in a soft, yet at the same time menacing voice. "Not to watch your petty fights. I won't have more of that, is that clear, McGish?" he said, looking at the woman, who nodded and sat down, still glaring daggers at the other man. "The same goes for you, Rostrom"
"As you wish, my lord" the blonde man said, and sat down too.
"Now, my friends, we are here, reunited under the name of "Voldemort's Avengers", because we all believe in what Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, proposed as a way to make the Wizarding World better. We need to purify our world from Mudbloods and Blood Traitors, and we will not make the mistakes occurred to those who preceded us. We won't stop in front of anything or anyone, and we will make Harry Potter suffer more than anyone else" he said, and then a cold laugh echoed through the room.
The one talking was Vincent Van Grauteren, a Dutch wizard, thirty-three years old, who had attended Durmstrang, and in his fifth year had developed quite a knack for Dark Arts. He had discovered the story of Grindelwald and then of Voldemort, and had become fascinated with them. He just couldn't understand why such powerful wizards would meet their demise at the hands of weak people like Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, two Muggle-lovers, as he liked to call them.
Especially Potter, he had nothing particular about him, and Vincent was more than sure it had been mere luck that lead him to win over the previous Dark Lord. Dumbledore…well, albeit they didn't share the same political views, Vincent had to admit the man was brilliant, and knew lots about magic.
But in the young Vincent's opinion, it was the heart that made the old man weak. It wasn't like Vincent had grown up deprived of love. He was the heir of one of the most important Dutch wizarding families, and he was loved by every single one of his relatives. They were purebloods by generations, and probably linked to some very important wizards of the past, he had never stopped looking too much into the centuries old branches of his family tree.
However, him being pureblood and from such an high profile family made him look everyone else from high to low, and he thought if he was a wizard and was pureblood, it meant being pureblood was something that gave you special powers, powers that should not be shared with those who were not of the same pure heritage. This is how his hate for Muggle-borns was born, and it extended to all those who protected them.
So, once he graduated from Durmstrang, he left his family forever, starting the quest that would fill his whole life. He travelled around all Europe, he had his own vault in Gringotts full to the extent that he would never have to work and his descendants would not have to too, if he ever had them, that is.
He, however, wasn't in the slightest interested in bringing up a family, and set instead to search the most vicious dark wizards of all Europe, to create an army and obtain what Grindelwald and Voldemort had failed to achieve, complete power over the Wizarding World, and thus over the Muggle one too.
As he moved through Norway, he met Runegard Rostrom, who was on the run from the local Ministry, and offered him to join him. He had heard about the man in his travel, and was just delighted to have found such a powerful ally. The crimes he was held responsible for were many, and most of them regarded torturing and then killing Muggles. He was sentenced to life in Gothred Tower, the Norwegian prison for wizards, set beyond the Polar Circle. But he managed to escape on the day of this trial, twisting the guard checking on him in front of himself with his bare hands, so that no one could attack him without hitting the other man, then he wrestled his wand from him and blew away part of the courtroom. In the confusion, he managed to flee, leaving thirty dead bodies behind.
Van Grauteren couldn't have asked for a better partner.
Rostrom, on his side, was more than happy to be able to leave the country and start a new life abroad. Not that he would be an honest man there, but still, in England he wasn't wanted. Yet.
So, the two of them travelled to the united Kingdom, and there they started building what would be their headquarters, Avengers Manor. It took a whole year to complete it with everything needed, rooms, kitchens, the main room for meetings like the one going on at the moment, and of course cells for prisoners that needed to be questioned, and torture rooms too. There wasn't a darkest manor in the whole world, and Van Grauteren was satisfied with the result.
Then, he left Rostrom there to search for valuable allies in England, while he resumed his search through Europe. He visited Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Bulgaria, every country, and he managed to collect some good followers, nothing excellent like Rostrom, but good followers nonetheless.
One day, while he was walking in Edinburgh searching for the entrance to the local wizarding community, he spotted a dark haired witch who, hid under a Disillusionment Charm that made her invisible to Muggles, was torturing them with the Cruciatus Curse. He thought his ranks were full, but after meeting her he knew she would be important for his group. So he approached her and asked her to join him, after explaining what his idea was.
She was ecstatic at the plan, and followed him to the manor. The witch was Velvet McGish, and since then she had tried to get into Van Grauteren's good graces, more than Rostrom was, anyhow. Some of her heritage must have been catching up to her, because she was a distant relative of the Black family, and her behaviour sure enough made her look like she was another Bellatrix Lestrange.
She had attended Hogwarts and had graduated just a couple years before. Coming from Ravenclaw, she had always wanted to show she was no less than her family members, who had all been Slytherins, so she dropped low into the dark arts, and developed an hate for whoever wasn't pureblood.
Once, she had used the Killing Curse on a fellow Ravenclaw, but had set it everything to look as suicide. She had used her friend's wand to perform the spell, then she cleaned her fingerprints from it. The girl was surely smart, but in a sick twisted way. She didn't use her brains for good reasons, but only to hurt and kill those she despised.
Vincent Van Grauteren was sure she could be useful in developing foolproof plans to get Potter and all those who liked Muggles.
"So, my friends. About Potter…" the new aspirant Dark Lord announced, exposing to his followers the plan he had in mind, and that he had improved with McGish's help.
As rain continued to pour outside the manor, a cold laughter of satisfaction could be heard echoing in the halls of the building.
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