FicWad

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, then it might well belong to J.K.R or to some of her affiliates. Or to some random people out there. I only claim my OC:s and plot.

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Chapter Three: The Truth Beneath All Lies



"The end," said Dumbledore, looking extremely weary, "of another year." He paused and his eyes flickered over all four house tables.


"There is much I would like to say to you all tonight. But I must first acknowledge the loss three fine persons who should be sitting here," Headmaster said, his voice nearly breaking as he gestured towards Hufflepuffs, then Gryffindors and finally, teachers around him, "enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory, Harry Potter and Alastor Moody."


They did it, all of them; the benches scraped as everyone in the Great Hall stood up, and raised their goblets, and echoed, in one loud, low, rumbling voice, "to Cedric Diggory, Harry Potter and Alastor Moody."


"It seems that it had become a yearly occurrence to lose some of our numbers," Dumbledore said sadly. "I am going to tell you something the ministry of magic doesn't wish me to tell you. "All these deaths during last two years can be directly attributed to Lord Voldemort."


There was few screams of terror, and Dumbledore waited for them to end before continuing, "Two years ago, Voldemort, the Heir of Slytherin, controlled the basilisk through his proxy, and killed four students, Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater."


Tears were now running down the cheeks of the ancient wizard. "Last year, due His minion, Sirius Black, one student, Ron Weasley, and one professor, Severus Snape got Kissed by Dementors."


Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment, looking terribly old. "And finally, just a few days ago Cedric and Alastor were killed by Killing Curses. Harry's splattered and burned remains were found by tracking the portkey, the Triwizard Cup, he and Cedric had taken.


"The place they were taken was used to perform some terrible ritual. What I believe is that Lord Voldemort has risen again."


*


Hundred miles southern, a young, green eyed wizard was surveying the wards around the Burrow. They were pathetically weak. His master could rend them without any real effort. It nearly stunk as a trap, but as he very well knew, Light side would never endanger whole Weasley family to capture few Death Eaters.


Light side was, to simply put it, stupid and incompetent. He was thankful that his master had shown him the ultimate, someone might say the only, truth of this world: There is no good and evil, only power and those too weak to take it.


However, unlike the Dark Lord, Harry didn't seek power for power's sake. To him power was only a mean to the end not a purpose in itself.


:Are we done, master? It'ss cold already,: a three feet long snake hissed into his ear. It was growing impatient.


Harry looked fondly at the gleaming, black snake, which was curled on his shoulders, before hissing softly, :Yes, dear. We can go now.:


With a resounding cracking sound the young Dark wizard Disapparated away.


A split second later he reappeared in the darkened hallways of the Riddle manor. He walked to the room where his lord was awaiting.


He opened the heavy, oaken door and stepped into the dark room. He carefully closed the door behind him and took few steps forward, his steps echoing loudly in the silence.


The walls were covered with bookshelves, the only break in them were on the east wall where there was a very large fireplace made of black marble. Within the fireplace, crackling green flames were dancing, illuminating the entire room with its abnormal colour. The only other light source in the room was a great, black chandelier where dozens candles were burning. Beneath the chandelier, at the centre of the room, was a large wooden table surrounded by a score of chairs, all which were now vacated. The wooden floor was old and tarnished, but it still reflected the green flames surprisingly well. The shimmering reflection was strangely mesmerising, nearly hypnotic. The Dark Lord was sitting in a large black armchair by the fire, a large snake coiling at his feet.


"Lord Voldemort," Harry said, bowing low. "I come as summoned. What does your lordship require of me?"


"You are late," Voldemort hissed in reply.


The cloaked young wizard met the Dark Lord's gaze without any apparent fear. "My other duties had to be finished before I was free to answer your call, my lord."


"Oh... is that so," Voldemort said softly. Despite the apparent softness, his voice was full of threat. Like an iron fist covered in velvet. "Do you think my errands are secondary?"


"Of course not, my lord," Harry said quickly. The air was thick of threat of violence, and he really didn't want to be in the receiving end of the Dark Lords wrath. "I merely didn't want to leave things unfinished. I came as soon as I could."


:So, how is your little plan, Harry?: the Dark Lord asked, witching effortlessly into the Parseltonque. :I assume that was what you were doing?:


Harry released the breath he hadn't known he had been holding. :It's going well, my lord, and yes.:


A rare, small smile appeared to the Dark Lord's pale lips. :When are you ready to proceed?: he asked, drumming his long, skeletal fingers against the armrest.


:Immediately, my lord.:


:Good,: Voldemort said. :Harry, I have other mission for you. Macnair made a mistake and let something important slip. Now, Levistus Lovegood knows too much. You must silence him.:


This peaked Harry's interest. :Are we speaking of Luna's father, the editor of The Quibbler?:


:The very same,: the Dark Lord agreed.


Harry smiled. This could be entertaining. :Tonight?:


:Yes.:


:It shall be done,: Harry said, bowing. He clicked his heels and turned to exit the room, when he suddenly stopped. A sinister smile crept to his lips as he turned back at the Dark Lord. :I just got an interesting idea...:


*


About two miles west of the village of Ottery St. Catchpole is situated an old and beautiful manor. This manor was build in the sixteenth century by alchemist Nicholas Flamel, who had then later sold it to Lovegoods. The manor was pretty well shielded with wards and spells.


All in all, it was nearly impenetrable by magical means without very careful planning, just like Hogwarts or Azkaban. It was a pity that the Flamels hadn't considered muggle means... Or actually it wasn't. Otherwise it would be near impossible to gain access into it without ripping the wards apart. And Harry needed to get inside undetected. It was interesting, though, how most wizards and witches seemed to ignore the threat posed by those despicable muggles.


He was standing on a spot near the manor's stone wall to were he had Apparated few seconds ago. He took a step towards the wall and jumped upwards, his hands reaching up. His fingertips managed to get hold of the top of the wall and he swung his legs upwards. A second later he was laying on his stomach on the top of the wall.


He scanned the courtyard with his green eyes. As he saw nobody he dropped himself of the wall to the courtyard. It wasn't unexpected, it was nearly midnight. Timing was important.


He sprinted through the courtyard and climbed up the vines covering the whole east wall of the hospital to a window on the third floor. He looked quickly inside, confirming that the room was empty. His hand reached to his belt and he took off a muggle instrument. He pressed a suction cup to the window and drew a circle around it with a diamond bladed glasscutter. It was disgraceful that great magical defences could be pierced by a simple muggle device. If he had performed a spell to make a hole on the window not only would his spell have been rebounded on him, also the law enforcement would have been notified.


He dropped the glass circle to bushes below him and reached for the window's handle through the hole. The window opened silently and Harry entered the room with equal silence.


He stalked through the shadows, searching for his prey. He didn't have a map of the manor and he couldn't use any locating spells as he didn't want to leave any spell residues that wouldn't correspond with the events he was going to stage.


After little less than two minutes, he found what he had searched for, Luna's room. He opened the door and was nearly blinded by the light that was suddenly flooding into his eyes.


*


At the exactly same time, Auror Nymhadora Tonks was fuming in her cell. It wasn't really a cell as the room was very luxurious, but it still was her prison. Her furious thoughts were suddenly interrupted as someone pushed a small, black package into her cell through a small hatch in the base of the door.


It was curious, though. During the eight days she had spent in captivity nothing like this had happened before. The little bastard hadn't returned, and it had been very quiet. Only thing happening had be that someone had pushed something for her to eat through the hatch twice a day. She had been terribly bored, but it was still better than the alternative. How she wanted to strangle that boy.


She cautiously neared the thin, about feet long black package. Something was rolled in silk cloth. She picked the package up, and unrolled the cloth, revealing a wand and a piece of parchment.


And in the parchment read: Don't try to escape the room with your new wand. You won't succeed as the room is charmed by the Dark Lord himself. When the Potter boy returns and opens the door, kill him and escape.


The scrip looked angular and unnaturally neat. It was clearly written with a dicta-quill. The one who had send this package obviously didn't want his or her handwriting recognised. No wonder, really.


She waved the wand she had just acquired and few multicoloured sparks erupted from the wand tip. It wasn't as good as her own, but it would have to suffice. She wasn't about to perform any brain surgery, after all. Even though, sticking something into certain wizard's brain was starting to sound very intriguing...


Tonks smiled for the first time in a long time. And mind you, it wasn't a nice smile, it was as fiendish as smiles go. The boy really knew how to make enemies. Now she would just have to wait.


*


Luna Lovegood was still awake. Harry momentary wondered how he hadn't seen the light shining under the door. It was probably some sort of Imperturbable Charm, he decided.


Luna dropped the book she had been reading and made a move for her mahogany wand, which was located on the bedside table, but Harry was faster. "Accio."


The witch's wand flew into his gloved hand. "Ah, hello Luna," Harry said as he looked at the Ravenclaw witch. She had straggly, waist-length dirty-blonde hair, very pale eyebrows, and protuberant silvery grey eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. She was wearing a white nightgown. The heavy book which she had dropped was headed as 'The quantum mechanics', what ever that meant.


Her eyes widened. "Harry?" she asked, disbelieve evident in her voice. "You are alive?"


Harry chuckled. "Evidently," he said and took off his silver mask. "Now, would you mind coming with me?"


Her eyebrows rose bit higher. "Do I have a choice?" she asked as she studied the black robed wizard who had a wand pointed directly at her hearth. If you disregarded the silver mask, he was dressed completely black. The fabric his clothes were made of was clearly magical, as they reflected no light. His body was a pitch black, shapeless blot against the light blue wall, only his face was recognisable. The same ruffled black hair. The same angular face. His eyes while still the same brilliant green, had changed. They had lost all life, there was no sparkle.


Harry shrugged. "No, not really."


"Very well then, I will come with you," she decided, nodding her head.


Harry blinked. She really was a weird one. But then again, she had spent last year under Crouch's Imperius curse. That man was quite a paedophile. It's quite disgusting, really, he thought as he shook his head slightly. It was acceptable to kill and torture muggles, Blood-Traitors or enemies of the cause, it was a war after all. But to rape and mind control harmless, defenceless and underage Pureblood for one's own pleasure was a completely different matter. It was plain stupid to boot. Doing something like that right under Dumbledore's large nose...


He made a mental note to kill Bartemius Crouch at the first available opportunity. That man was loyal to their lord, but he had already served his purpose and thus he was disposable.


Actually, now when Harry really thought it, after the whole mind rape thing that Barty had performed to her before he left Hogwarts to destroy all evidence in her mind, he was slightly surprised that she was even coherent, and not being a vegetable at the St. Mungo's long term ward with Neville's parents.


"Ladies first," he said, nodding towards the door.


She walked past him into the hallway. She looked at him over her shoulder. "Where are we going?"


"To your father."


Her eyes narrowed. "Why."


"I have something interesting to say to him," Harry said vaguely. Unfortunately for Mr. Lovegood, those words are going to be incantations. "Lead the way."


"Okay," she said. It was clear that she didn't believe him.


As they were walking the darkened hallways to the master bedroom, she asked him a surprising question, "why did you join Him."


Harry's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know?"


She shrugged. "I was just wondering. He killed your parents after all."


"In the beginning I didn't really have a choice, you know. It was either death or that," Harry said quietly. He took a deep breath before continuing, "at first I was terribly ridden by guilt. How could I join that monster? I knew he was going to kill lots of muggles. But then I remembered my aunt... my uncle... and my cousin. And started to ponder whether such disgusting examples of humanity as Dursleys even deserve to live? And more importantly, why should I fight for them? Why should I fight a hopeless battle against the Dark Lord just so people like they could remain in the world of living. I decided it wasn't worth it... they weren't worth it."


Now she was looking at him intently. "Do you really believe that?"


"Of course," he said to the blonde. "Muggles are rabid beast on a path to self-destruction. They are worse than animals. I have experienced that personally. They are constantly killing each others by thousands, for no other reason than decade old grudges. Hundreds of thousand of them are dying of hunger each year. Of hunger, can you imagine that? No wizard has died of hunger for millennia. Muggles are simple, uncivilized beasts."


"Are you sure they are unable to chance?" she asked softly. "What gives you a right to judge them so harshly?"


"Perhaps the fact that they judged me so," Harry snarled. "Besides, can't you see how their influence is already harming our beloved world. The wizarding world is no longer ruled by elder families, but by a set of ministries. And those ministries are festering wounds of incompetence, spreading their corruption to all aspects of wizarding world. The world needs a strong ruler."


"Like He's going to make things any better," she said sadly, once again meeting his eyes. "He's merely starting a genocide against muggleborns."


"We aren't going to harm any wizard or witch who doesn't oppose us," Harry said shrugging his shoulders. He didn't really care if people were going to die. Everybody dies eventually, does few years make any real difference? "If we kill everyone, then there is no-one left to rule of, after all," Harry started to smile maliciously and added with supreme conviction, "and those who dare to oppose us deserve to die."


"And by 'wizard or witch who doesn't oppose us' you mean those who join you?"


Harry smiled. "Essentially yes, but we aren't going to kill people just because we can... except muggles, of course. It would be quite counter productive, you know?"


She was shaking her head at him. "You do realise that He's going to kill many Half-Bloods and Purebloods as well?"


"Some sacrifices are necessary to attain something more valuable."


"So, you are ready sacrifice everyone else to get your revenge on muggles," she said furiously. Harry blinked, he had never seen her angry before. "I would have thought better of you," she added.


"Thought better of me!" he snarled. "What makes you think I fucking care?"


"For what did you came here anyway? To kill us? To Imperio and rape me like that other Death Eater?"


Harry's incensed expression faltered. "I didn't know what he was doing," the young wizard said shaking his head. How could she remember? Perhaps Crouch had made a mistake? "If I had, I would have stopped him."


She looked him directly into his brilliantly green eyes. "Really?" she asked.


"Really," he confirmed.


"Oh," she said before pointing at large, beautifully engraved wooden door. "We are here, by the way."


"Open the door," Harry commanded. She obeyed and jerked the door open in a swift movement. It turned out that neither had her dad been sleeping...


Luna gasped as she saw her father in rather compromising position with a brunette witch. Harry did freeze for a second too, thought from entire different reason. Even if he really wasn't into the older ...well, far older... witches, he had to admit that she was quite good looking. Shoulder length curly brown hair, round firm ass, nice ample bosom and smooth suntanned skin. He hadn't come here to admire scenery, however, and thus he lifted Luna's wand and silently cast two cutting curses.


The purple bolts reached their targets in split seconds. The first went straight through the brunette's throat and the second curse hit Mr. Lovegood squarely into his chest. His spells cut through flesh and bone, spraying blood everywhere. Tiny drops of the crimson liquid hit the floor and the bed, forming myriad patterns, and for a second it sounded like it was raining. The dead bodies and the witch's severed head hit the bed with soft thuds, the head rolling out of the bed to the floor, where it stopped moving, her blue eyes now un-movingly staring at the ceiling.


Blood was pouring out of the broken bodies, soaking the already soaked bed-sheet with crimson liquid. The nauseating stench of blood filled Harry and Luna's nostrils.


Luna was stunned for a second, and then she started to scream. Harry didn't know, but this was the second time she had witnessed a scene like this. The first had claimed her mother. Of course, unlike this, her mother's death had been an accident.


Her screams died when Harry grasped Levistus Lovegood's wand and pointed it at her while whispering an incantation. "Lethargus."


A pulsating, midnight blue bolt of light left his wand tip and hit Luna to her side. The spell slammed into her with such force that her feet were lifted off the floor and she was hurled backwards. She hit the wall with loud thud, her body instantly slumping on the floor.


The curse wasn't strong enough to kill, it merely render her unconscious. It was an older version of Stupefy, the Stunning curse. The Coma curse was not widely used anymore as it wiped few or so hours out of the target's memory, but in this case that side effect was welcomed as he didn't want her to remember him.


Harry put the wands he had taken back to their respective owners' hands. His eyes travelled over the murder scene. It was a perfect set-up.


When Aurors arrive, they will find two dead bodies and a girl with traces of the Imperius curse and whole bunch of memory charms. After they check the wands, it will be clear to them, that someone had used Imperius on Luna and then made her kill her father and his lover. In the interrogation she would tell them all about Barty Crouch Jr. No-one would or could guess what had really happened. All in all, it fit perfectly into his plans.


Harry chuckled faintly. Soon he had exited the manor the same way he had entered it. Now he would have to find something to ease his tension, that girl had really riled him up. Perhaps I could visit some of my old 'acquaintances' in Little Whinging... No... No time for that, and it might endanger the plan... Oh, well... It's time to have a little 'meeting' with Tonks...


*


His footsteps echoed in the dark hallways of the Riddle manor. It took him only twenty seconds to walk from the Apparation point to Tonks' room.


Harry opened the door leading to the room. He froze as he saw that she was standing in the middle of the room, her wand pointed directly at his heart. He really didn't like the expression she had on her face. The young Dark wizard couldn't do anything before a brilliant red streak hit him into his shoulder, burning a smouldering hole on his expensive clothes.


Due the spell's momentum, he spiralled on the spot before collapsing on the floor, clearly unconscious. Perhaps it was better this way as Tonks next action was to administer few sharp kicks into his...


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Author's Notes: Hah! Weren't expecting this, were you? And the plot thickens... Yes, there really is a plot.