Chapter 4
As loyal as he was to the cause, Death Eater meetings were never Regulus' favourite part of the week. There were just so many stupid people amongst the ranks, ansking even more stupid questions. He couldn't understand why the Dark Lord didn't just Crucio the lot of them and be done with it. It was early in 1981 now, and, though the media's tales of mass murder and torture were wildly fabricated, Regulus didn't see why the Dark Lord couldn't live up to the rumours sometimes and deal with some of these people in an appropriate manor.
He stood in the meeting room of the Dark Lord's castle now, waiting, at his usual position at the table. One of the families closest to the Dark Lord's spot at the head. Sirius and Rabastan sat to his right, closest to the Dark Lord. To his left was Thaddeus Nott, followed by Severus Snape, Augustus Rookwood, and Antonin Dolohov. Facing them all across the table was Rodolphus and Bella, closest to the the Dark Lord, followed by Lucius, Narcissa, Andromeda, Barty, Evan, and Gabriel Avery. Together, they made up the inner circle of the Death Eaters. Regulus didn't have many dealings with those further down the table, he would need to see their faces or hear their voices to recognise most of them- they were the outer circle, though still honoured with the privilege of being marked. The meetings Regulus was summoned to rarely involved everyone together- this must be something big. He hoped it was- he hated wearing his mask during meetings without good reason.
The Dark Lord swept in, black robes almost gleaming in the light, dark hair perfectly styled. He knew the man had to be in his fifties at least, seeing as his parents had went to school with him, but he didn't look a day over twenty five. Regulus nodded his head respectfully with everyone else as the man sat, before taking his own seat.
"My loyal followers, I am so glad to see you all before me today. Rarely do I meet with both my inner and outer circles at once, but the information I share today must be heard by everyone," the Dark Lord explained, "First of all, I must inform you all that I welcomed a son, an Heir, almost a year ago. His name is Thomas, Thomas Corvinus Gaunt."
There was a loud applause, which Regulus naturally joined, and many congratulations. Regulus was trying to recover from the notion that Hydrus was going to be in the same Hogwarts year as the Dark Lord's own son. Sweet Salazar. On the other side of Thaddeus, Severus inhaled sharply- having recently became the Potions Master at Hogwarts following Slughorn's retirement, he must have just had the realisation that he would eventually teach the Dark Lord's son.
"Thank you, all. I inform you of this to prepare you for my next announcement. I have never hidden my status as a Half-Blood from any of you. You know I was born with the name Tom Marvolo Riddle, only to shed the name and take up the alias of Lord Voldemort. Soon, I shall shed that name too- and take up the new alias of Marvolo Ominis Gaunt, Lord of the Noble House of Gaunt and the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Slytherin. The war cannot continue in its current form much longer, and I plan for it to end before our current year does- too much magical blood is being shed, too many falsehoods are spread against our cause, too many of you have young families that you need to be alive to raise. We will take our war from the battlefield to the political sphere, and there we shall win."
The room was filled with gasps. Behind his mask, Regulus' jaw had fully dropped. Sirius was gripping both his arm and his husband's, muttering 'Oh, holy Merlin' over and over.
"My Lord," a voice from the outer circle called. Regulus was sure it was MacNair, the bloodthirsty beast, "Are you sure this is wise? The Ministry do not pose a threat, and the Order are severely… depleted. We can surely win this war before the years end, as is."
"It is the best course of action. We can take on the Order of the Phoenix, overthrow the Ministry regime by force, but at what cost? Almost all of my inner circle have children, I myself have a child- it is not worth the risk of magical children growing up without a family. If we take the Ministry by force, Light and Grey aligned families will live in fear, never trusting our regime. If we take over politically, it will be gradual. No one will fear the changes.”
"What do we do now, then, my Lord?" Bella asked, eagerly. She was taking this better than Regulus ever thought she could, maybe motherhood had actually softened her more homicidal tendencies. Who knew?
"We are almost into February, now. This war ends before Yule, at the latest. Between then and now, you all carry on as usual. Avoid detection, gather intelligence, follow orders. There may be a few more raids on those disgusting Muggle abusers, or corrupt Ministry officials, before the years end. Dumbledore is getting desperate- an Order spy has recently informed me that he is insisting on the existence of a Prophecy. A Prophecy that foretells my defeat at the hands of a mere infant, born at the end of last July. One of my spies in the Department of Mysteries has informed me that there is not a single Prophecy of this nature in the Hall of Prophecies. It is entirely fabricated. This war will end when I locate this family, who have gone into hiding on Dumbledore's orders, and tell them of his lies. When that happens, you will all be informed of the end of the war and the beginning of Operation Athena- the political operation. Upon the beginning of Operation Athena, your marks will disappear from the sight of anyone who is not marked. Your allegiance will be safely protected by the magic in the mark- not even Legilimency or Veritaserum can force it out of you. The dawn of a new age in our society approaches, a return to our age-old traditions, an era where we can practice the magic of our ancestors without persecution. We shall be victorious.”
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Lily often told James that childbirth was the most stressful thing a human could ever go through. Privately, James thought that carrying out a Samhain ritual in secret whilst living in hiding in a property under the Fidelius charm with your wife who thought the Old Ways were evil had to be comparable.
He didn't understand what Lily thought was quite so evil about lighting candles beside his parent's photos and talking to them. As the candles burned, James felt the ghost of his mother's touch as she tried to tame his hair, and a faint weight reminiscent of the comforting feel of his father's hand clasping his shoulder. They'd died of Dragon Pox a few months ago, and James would be damned if he missed paying his respects. The candles had almost burnt out when the wind whispered in his mother's voice.
"Go now, mera beta. We love you. The man you follow has lied. Be safe."
James jumped up from where he sat just behind the property's tree line. He'd had an uneasy feeling all day. Was that a warning? He'd better heed it.
He entered the cottage again, finding Lily and Henry in the living room, safe. He sat down, ready to tell Lily all about how he had gotten so worried for no reason, when he felt an unusual presence. Around them, the wards shook.
Anti-apparition wards.
Peter, the rat, had betrayed the secret.
Lily shrieked, grabbing Henry and running upstairs to the nursery. She said not a word to James, expecting him to lay down his life to protect them. He was planning on doing that anyway, but some communication would have been nice.
His mother said Dumbledore lied, so why would the wards have been breached?
James grabbed his wand, and sliced open the palm of his hand with a cutting curse. Just because the Potters were light didn't mean James didn't know the Old Ways. Using his blood, he drew protective runes on his wrists, hands, and throat. He activated them the family way, with a chant in Hindi. There was nothing more he could do, realistically. He had to go outside, before they came inside.
Wand in hand, James unlocked the door, walking out to the front of the cottage. Around the property line, stood a barrier of Death Eaters- encircling the property. As if the anti-apparition wards weren't enough. Beneath the masks, James was sure he recognised some people. He would recognise Regulus' duelling stance any day, the same with his brother Sirius. James couldn't afford to dwell on it, however, as the man he presumed was the Dark Lord himself stood inside the property line- ten foot in front of him.
Panicking, James went for sarcasm.
"The Dark Lord, I presume? Funny, Dumbledore told me you were much more snake-faced in appearance. Nonetheless, it's rather impolite to barge through someone's wards when they're in the midst of a Samhain ritual."
To James' shock and utter horror, the man laughed, "Tell me, do you believe everything Albus Dumbledore tells you?"
James stayed silent, frowning. He was repeating what his mother's voice had told him like a mantra.
"I have a healthy amount of scepticism about anything people with that much power tell me to trust," James settled on admitting.
"So you're not a deep believer of the Prophecy he informed you of?"
"No. I don't believe that Divination rules our fates, much less when I am unaware of the very nature of the Prophecy itself."
"You'll be more than glad to find out that the Prophecy is fake, then," the Dark Lord said, "There are Unspeakables amongst my ranks, I have had them investigate. There are no Prophecies about me, and none about your son."
James was relieved, though he tried not to show it. Regulus was an Unspeakable- was it him who saved his son from certain death? More importantly, why did Dumbledore lie?
"Then why are you here?"
"I have been informed that you're quite the Occlumens. This war ends tonight- your task is to tell Dumbledore that the backlash from the wards killed me. My Death Eaters will take care of staging the scene."
"What's the catch?" James asked, frowning.
The Dark Lord laughed again, no less unsettling than the first time, "The only 'catch' is that your home will be damaged and you must live with the knowledge that you are deceiving your wife and son. You live, they live, there is no more bloodshed. You just need to sell the lie."
If only the man knew that James was no stranger to deceit. He had been lying to Lily for months by omission- unable to bear the thought of telling her about Regulus or little Hydrus, the son he had yet to meet.
James raised his chin, the proud Potter his father taught him to be, "Fine. I'll do it."
"Go back inside. Ward a cupboard and hide in it with your wife and son. Stay there until Dumbledore arrives. You have two minutes once you reach your wife- use a Lumos in the upstairs hall to let us know you've reached her."
“Wait,” James said, hesitantly, “Our secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew. Why did he betray us?”
The Dark Lord’s expression could almost be considered kind, “If you must know, it wasn’t truly a betrayal. I swore a vow not to harm you or your family so long as you did not attack first before he even considered telling me the secret.”
James hadn’t really expected that response, and so he pushed his emotions to the side and dipped down into a mockery of a curtsy, “A pleasure doing business with you.”
He ran back inside, psyching himself up. He warded the pantry to all hell, using every single protection spell he knew, before running up the stairs. Lily was cowering in Henry's room, in the corner.
"Lily! Come on, now! We need to go downstairs, I've warded the pantry!"
"What? Why? Are they still there? We need to tell Dumbledore! Send a Patronus!"
"There's no time! Something's wrong, they can't get through but the wards are reacting badly and the anti-apparition wards are still up. We're surrounded, but we’ll be safe behind the wards I cast. Move, now!"
"Okay, okay! I'm coming! Grab Henry's baby bag!"
James grabbed the bag, waiting until Lily was halfway down the stairs before casting Lumos. Two minutes, starting now. The pantry was big enough for the three of them to cower down together. He held Lily tightly, putting Henry between them and cast a silencing spell around his head. The unmistakable noise of ward backlash filled their ears, and James was afraid. He knew what was happening, that a scene was to be staged, but he didn't think it would be quite so realistic. He could hear parts of the house collapsing, the noise roaring in his ears. He closed his eyes, gripped Lily tighter, and silently prayed to Lady Magic for this all to be worth it.
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The Daily Prophet - 1st November 1981
THE DARK LORD IS DEAD- BLOOD WAR OVER
Written by Rita Skeeter
You read that correctly dear readers! The heart of the rumours that have been circulating all over Britain since late last night are true, as confirmed by the Ministry of Magic!
'But how is this possible?' I hear you wonder. I must admit, I found it hard to believe myself. I witnessed a raid on Diagon Alley once, back in 1979, and saw the Dark Lord duel. How could he ever be defeated? Well, it's quite the tale.
According to my very reliable Ministry sources, the Dark Lord attacked the home of Lord James Potter, an Auror and Lord of the Noble House of Potter, and his family last night in Godric's Hollow, seeking to kill the Potter's young son! Horrifying, I know. The son in question, Henry James Potter, aged fifteen months, is rumoured to have fit the requirements for a Prophecy foretelling the Dark Lord's defeat. Seemingly, the Dark Lord sought to remove this threat to his reign of terror, and was defeated by magical backlash from the wards on the Potter's home. Wards weaved by Albus Dumbledore himself, that included the Fidelius charm.
The Potters are safe from harm, though their home was heavily damaged. They, along with Albus Dumbledore, are to be hailed as heroes. Henry Potter, the Chosen One, the Boy-Who-Lived, is the first and only person to survive a direct, targeted attack from the Dark Lord.
We at the Daily Prophet are delighted to ring in the dawn of this new age in magical society. We mourn those we lost, as we celebrate the future generations who will grow up without fear.
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James was a hero, his son was a hero. The war was over, Britain was safe. Yet, he still felt sick to his stomach, day after day.
It wasn’t just because he was a filthy liar, that this newfound fame and safety was born from falsehoods. No, James felt that there were some seriously sinister things going on beneath the surface in their society.
And for some reason, he really didn’t think the Dark Lord was the source of them.