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Next-Generation HPRP, part the eleventh
Eleventh rhymes with...
Eleventh rhymes with seventh, haha.
Anyway, the next thread for our next-generation HP roleplay. Er, fanfiction, really, to tell the truth. It stopped being a roleplay when all the Hogwarts people left (read: got exasperated with the Bella-Voldy-Wolfbar-Belinda fanfiction Mary W. and I were writing...)
Right. So. MW said she was having problems loading the last one. Plus, the number was wrong on the last one. Shouldn've been tenth.
Carry on!
submitted by TNÖ, age 16, Deep Space
(July 15, 2009 - 3:11 pm)
(July 15, 2009 - 3:11 pm)
((Yes, it's so hard to abbreviate because it looks so weird to say, "One of my favourite songs is PUS."
About Albus: Yes. :) Please. Something like that. I think I'll do it right now, actually, because, um, I'm way too impatient... it might be a tad choppy because it can only be so long...))
//Albus//
Albus had chosen to steal Nathaniel Rew's identity mainly because Rew was good-looking. His eyes, especially- they were a dark black, and Albus had noticed that if he got excited small flecks of gold appeared in them. This was all fine and well, until one morning Albus woke up early to brew more Polyjuice potion and realized with increasing panic that he'd used up all of the pieces of hair he'd filched from his ex-roommate's robe. In his paranoia about using too little, he'd used too much. And meanwhile, Albus was turning back into himself.
It wasn't just as simple as "turning back into" oneself, of course, in fact it was rather painful. Albus still hadn't grown used to the sensation, and tried hard to keep from crying out and waking his employers. A few uncomfortable moments later, he cautiously sat up and walked over to the mirror on a small table. He blinked. Looking back at him was Albus Severus Potter, except for one of the eyes. His left one. It was the same coal-black colour it had been five minutes ago, in sharp contrast with the green eye that he'd inherited from his father's side of the family. ...Strange...
But Albus had no time to think about this, because it was already past the time he was meant to be in the shop. But he looked nothing like he had the past few days, how could he-
"Alverus?" Burke walked into the room, without knocking like he usually did. "Alverus, we got a call from the Department of Young Witches' and Wizards' Welfare, and they want to spend someone by because they think that an elev- Alverus? What the-"
Albus wondered what his chances of Stunning Burke and fleeing the shop successfully were.
((Is this okay so far?))
(September 6, 2009 - 12:52 pm)
((Yes, indeed. People look at you funny. *is listening to PUS(reprise) right now*
And yeah, that's fine.))
//Bellatrix//
When she wasn't following the Dark Lord around, Bellatrix had taken to reading in the room with the Vanishing Cabinet. It was one of the quietest rooms in the house, and anyway no one else ventured into the dusty room, with the occasional exception of the Dark Lord.
She was rereading the article detailing the deaths of the six aurors, a smile of amusement on her face, when a distinct thud from the Vanishing Cabinet interrupted her.
The Death Eater looked up sharply, smirked, and returned to the paper.
A half-second later the door of the Vanishing Cabinet swung open and a scrawny boy stumbled out of it. He sent a cloud of dust spiraling into the air and Bellatrix smirked once more as he started to cough.
She waited for the dust to settle and folded the paper slowly. A few seconds later most of the dust had floated back to the floor, leaving the boy brushing hastily at his robes and looking a mite smug.
"Albus, I presume," Bellatrix said cooly.
He started slightly and glanced up at her. His mouth dropped open a fraction in surprise. A moment later he recovered and said curtly, "Yes."
"Careless with the Polyjuice potion, I see," Bellatrix added. Seeing his confusion at this, she qualified, "Your eye."
"Oh." He blinked. "Yes, I suppose so. But how...?"
Bellatrix stopped him with a glare. "Time for that later, dumpling. Introductions come first."
"Er," Albus said, apparently not sure what to make of this.
"Firstly, may I be the first- and probably the only- to welcome you to the lovely but admittedly somewhat dusty Lestrange manor. You won't be leaving for some time. Secondly, I, as you probably know, am Bellatrix Lestrange. If you call me Bella I will probably vaporize you." She smiled at Albus, who was now looking decidedly nervous (though he tried valiantly to hide it), and folded her arms.
"Hello," Albus said.
(September 6, 2009 - 5:20 pm)
((Yay! *dance* He's at Lestrange manor!
On the topic of being looked at strangely, that was rather the reaction I got when I suggested either Ursula, Helena, or Albus for a baby name. :-/ ))
//Albus//
As Bellatrix Lestrange- what was he supposed to call her? Ms. Lestrange?- led him downstairs, Albus tried to calm down his breathing. Burke would've put two and two together by now, and probably had a good idea of just who he and his employer had been harbouring the last week. Would he tell the Ministry? He felt panic rising in his chest until he told himself that if his hostess was a person who'd vapourize anyone who called her "Bella" then it was fairly unlikely that any of his father's smarmy coworkers would be able to do much to her.
Then Bellatrix Lestrange led him into a parlour and he looked up.
"U-uhhuuh wha..." A strangled noise escaped Albus' throat and he was torn between a desperate need to collapse into a chair and a paralyzing fear as to what the person standing before him might do to him if he tried that.
Lord Voldemort twirled his wand between his long, spidery fingers. "Let me guess," he said, and his voice was high and cold. "I'm dead."
"That-" Albus cleared his throat weakly. "That..." What was he supposed to say? "That would not... appear to be the case," he said faintly, and then he had to collapse into a chair.
(September 7, 2009 - 9:49 am)
((haha.
"Nellie" also tends to get strange looks for some reason. And I like Helena and Ursula; Albus too, except everyone would associate it with Dumbledore...
"Why Professor Quirrell... What on earth are you doing in the great daaaaance hall, just moments before the daaaaaance?"))
//Voldy//
"Indeed," the Dark Lord said dryly as Bellatrix snickered. Albus gaped up at him.
Bellatrix tapped the boy lightly on the shoulder and said softly, "Breathing is a good thing."
"Right," said Albus faintly.
The Dark Lord tilted his head slightly to one side, studying him. After a moment he said, "Bella, send the Vanishing Cabinet somewhere... uninhabitable, will you?"
"Of course, my lord," she said with a bow. She smirked in Albus' direction and ghosted out the door.
Noting Albus' confusion, the Dark Lord elaborated quickly, "You've got at least half the Minsitry after you- anyone who isn't already searching for the Lestranges is looking for you- and it will be fairly obvious to anyone Mr. Burke decides to alert as to your escape that you used the Vanishing Cabinet to get away... and obviously we can't have them following you here."
"Oh," Albus said quietly.
"'Oh', indeed,' the Dark Lord agreed.
"Er... if you don't mind my asking..." Albus shifted nervously.
"Why haven't I killed you?"
"Um, yes."
The Dark Lord merely shrugged. "In times such as these one can't be choosy with one's allies." Or servants, in this case, but the boy wasn't to know that yet. "And in particular there is the matter of P- your father."
Albus raised an eyebrow.
"As I am sure you know, I seek to overthrow the Ministry... establish a new world order..." The Dark Lord waved a hand through the air. "The usual. And for that, your father would need to be... dealt with. Your presence here would make that all the easier." He sighed. "In the meantime, Bellatrix will be filling in any gaps in your knowledge of the Dark Arts. If you are agreeable," he added sarcastically.
(("Now you have what you have waited for for so long!" "What?" "The chance to kill Harry Potter!" "Ah, yes! HARRY POTTER- eh, where'd he go?"))
(September 7, 2009 - 1:29 pm)
((Lol, that was very funny.
You know how a while ago you said you wanted to hunt down and strangle whoever thought up synthetic division...? Can I come with you and give a piece of my mind to whoever invented high and low estimating and composite numbers? They're not particularly hard either, just totally, um, *pointless*, and we've got a whole year of them to look forward starting tomorrow...
Oh yeah, Dumbledore... um, I'd sort of stopped associating the name with him anymore and just thinking, "Yay! Evil Albus!" ...Slightly embarrassing...))
//Albus//
Albus said hastily that yes, he was agreeable to this. He knew, of course, that his being agreeable had little to do with anything, but nevertheless.
"So, um," Albus wondered faintly how one made small talk with the most evil wizard of all time, "you're going to, er, kill my father?"
"That was the plan," the Dark Lord said sarcastically.
Albus considered this. He had to admit he didn't see anything immediately unappealing about this course of action...
At this point Bellatrix strode back into the room, smiling a bit smugly. "Any of our dear friends at the Mininstry who might try to find Potter's little boy by going through the Vanishing Cabinet will find themselves at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean," she said with a certain amount of relish, "where unfortunately it is very hard to survive due to-"
"Yes, yes," the Dark Lord cut in, "thank you very much for your exertion, Bella." Albus saw Bellatrix's mouth twitch a bit. "And much as I'm sure you'd derive enormous pleasure from explaining in depth to me exactly what the chances of survival for or Minstry friends are"- they exchanged smirks- "I'm afraid that you have... other flocks to tend to." He gestured in Albus' general direction, still smirking. Bellatrix smiled nicely. Albus took a deep breath.
(September 7, 2009 - 3:45 pm)
((...Ugh. Recently dad did something to the Airport Express to fix it's connection to the DSL box downstairs, and now next to the Airport icon on my menu bar it shows a clock informing me how long it's been connected... It's driving me nuts and I can't figure out how to get rid of it.
Grah.))
//Bellatrix//
"Come along, then, darling." Bellatrix gestured at Albus to follow her. "Time's precious, after all."
The Dark Lord chuckled darkly as they left the room.
Bellatrix lead Albus through the decaying halls of Lestrange manor, stopping at the library. The boy looked reasonably impressed when she opened the doors; given that Hogwarts was distinctly anti-dark and Borgin and Burkes was tiny, Bellatrix's library was probably the largest collection of Dark knowledge that Albus had ever seen.
Bellatrix smirked.
"This is the library," she said breezily. "You'll want to be careful in here, I suppose, some of the books don't take kindly to being read. They'll mostly try to burn out your eyes or take off a couple of fingers... Some of the older ones will try for an entire arm or drive you insane... And always put books back exactly where you found them, they're very particular about that." She shook her head. "Dark spellbooks tend to have minds of their own. Oh, yes, and ignore them if they start talking to you."
"They do that?" Albus asked faintly.
"Some of them try," Bellatrix said dryly. "They can be quite... nasty at times. And over there," she pointed, "is my wall. Touch it and die, alright?"
"Right."
Bellatrix grinned at him suddenly, which had the unsettling effect of making her look like a jack-o-lantern. The Death Eater steered him out of the library and farther down the hall, where she briefly pointed out the kitchen, dining room, the parlour which had been turned into an impromptu dueling arena after a minor roof collapse had smashed all its furniture ("But don't worry, we fixed the roof and it we're reasonably sure it isn't going to cave and crush us all..."), and the staircase leading down to the extensive basements.
At the end of the brief tour (which had only covered about a quarter of the house, since half of the manor was falling apart and the other quarter, the basement, was strictly off limits without invitation anyway), Bellatrix showed the slightly overwhelmed boy to a small room across from the kitchen and told him to make himself comfortable and if he wanted dinner he'd have to make it himself.
She ghosted away through the manor to the parlour where Albus had first met the Dark Lord. Her master was still there, now seated at a desk and reading the Daily Prophet.
He glanced up as Bellatrix entered and dipped into a bow.
"Well?" he asked quietly.
"He'll be fun, I think," Bellatrix replied. "He's a bit uncertain but a night's rest without being murdered in his bed will cure him of that, unless I'm very much mistaken."
The Dark Lord smiled thinly. "Good." He paused briefly, considering, then said, "Now he's here and out of the Ministry's reach we can come into the open a bit..."
Bellatrix grinned, guessing what he was going to say next.
"There's a rather troublesome Ministry inspector, name of Max Varley, who's been heading the search for dear little Albus... He lives a few blocks away from the Ministry itself with his family..."
"Can I torture them this time, my lord?" Bellatrix asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
"If you must," her master replied. "And this time, Bella," he added as she bowed and turned to leave.
Bellatrix turned slightly and said, "Yes, my lord?"
The Dark Lord smiled. "Send a Dark Mark up after you finish, alright?"
(September 7, 2009 - 11:52 pm)
((Um... you have my sympathy, but... English?
Also, would Harry's scar be hurting again by now or was the connection broken after Harry was murdered-but-not-really and stopped being a Horcrux? I know that's bad wording, but school has slightly melted my brain for the time being.))
//Albus//
Before he fell asleep that night, Albus went over a list of don'ts in his head. Call Bellatrix Lestrange Bella and you get vapourized. Touch the aforesaid's wall and you die. Fail to put books back in their proper spots and you lose an arm or your mind...
//Harry//
It was late that night, nearly one, before Harry managed to get home. He was greeted by the sight of Lily, looking as though she'd aged years since he last saw her... when? A few weeks ago?
"'Lo Dad," she said over Harry's scoldings about the late hour. "Mum's upstairs if you want to see her..."
Harry nodded to his daughter and without another word sprinted up the stairs and into his wife's room. "Ginny?"
Ten minutes later, Harry deemed it necessary to contact some of England's more prestigious wizarding physicians.
(September 8, 2009 - 4:45 pm)
((Internet stuff. Sorry.
I'd think it wouldn't be hurting, since a) the connection's gone, and b) Voldy would be employing Occlumency anyway.))
//Voldy//
The next morning's Daily Prophet was an amusing one. The front page was devoted entirely to a picture of the Dark Mark glittering over the Varley home, and mildly panicked-sounding wonderings as to what it meant. That the Dark Lord might have been back was a passing thought which was quickly dismissed, but it was a start.
Albus Potter had also earned himself another article, this one detailing his hiding, exposure, and subsequent escape from Borgin and Burkes, and the fact that the body of the auror who had gone after him into the Vanishing Cabinet had been found later floating amidst the ice in the north.
The Dark Lord smiled for the first time in days.
(September 9, 2009 - 12:18 am)
((Okay, on both counts.
As was inevitable, I suppose, everyone else has left. Again. *cough* Why ever do you think?))
//Albus//
The next morning, Albus was listening to Bellatrix's brief account of everyone else in the manor, more or less the same that Draco and Rabastan had received. "There're the Malfoys, who have a son your age but isn't particularly interesting; my brother-in-law Rabastan, who has a rather higher interest in gastronomics than the rest of us but is tolerable all the same; Wolfbar, who's really quite an arrogant prat in all honesty; and Belinda, who's really not bad at all and considerably more intelligent than many children her age. And me, and the Dark Lord of course, and now you. Oh, and Oliver, but he doesn't really count as he's in the dungeon and in all liklihood is not long for this world." She paused to beam at Albus, and then continued.
"Before now of course, I devoted a lot of my time to Belinda, but as she seems to have benefitted considerably from everything I've taught her and can practice on her own"- a smirk flitted across Bellatrix's features- "we'll be spending most of the day together for the time being. Feel free to ask questions, but not stupid ones because my time is precious. Additionally, please maintain a healthy fear of me, because despite the fact that I am apparently dead I nonetheless am very capable of making your life miserable in creative ways if you annoy me." She smiled again and folded her arms.
Albus nodded. There was no doubt that he was mildly frightened, but not in a bad way. This was what he'd been working up to, after all, and he was relatively excited. There was, Albus hoped, a lot to look forward to.
(September 9, 2009 - 3:41 pm)
((Yes, indeed.))
//Bellatrix//
Albus's training began immediately. Bellatrix started with a rather hands-on assessment of Albus's abilities, which largely entailed ordering him to try to curse her with whatever spells happened to come to mind, and then darting out of the way without even bothering to take out her wand.
Following this she sent a few curses of her own in his direction, without giving the boy the slightest warning of it. Albus dodged a couple, managed to block a few more, and was then blown off his feet with a particularly nasty (though fortunately, for him, short-lived) Cruciatus.
The Death Eater sighed dismally at him. "As admirable as it is that you managed to gain a rough though working knowledge of the Dark Arts under your father's nose, dear, you're going to have to be a bit quicker than that if you don't want to get your head blown off after some auror decides you're too much trouble to capture alive."
"Wouldn't want that," Albus muttered sarcastically, rubbing his elbow.
"Not at all," Bellatrix agreed cheerfully. "Optimally we aim for finding imaginative ways of killing them, rather than the other way around." She raised her wand. "Again."
(September 9, 2009 - 7:24 pm)
((I have writer's block and I'm in a slightly poor mood, so... just a warning.
Also, when would you like to do away with Harry?))
//Albus//
Albus was breathing deeply and trying to recover from one of Bellatrix's more ferocious hexes when a dark-haired girl a few years older than Albus strode into the hall. "Bellatix!" she called confidently, obviously without the fear of getting the name wrong and being vapourized.
"Yes darling?" Bellatrix hardly looked up from the small burn on her hand that she was healing with her wand; that had been all Albus had been able to hit her with in a whole morning of dueling.
"Oliver," the girl announced, "has collapsed- again- and is not actually, er, breathing. I tried to... wake him up," she smirked slightly, "but that was ineffective except for some twitching."
"Ah," Bellatrix said. She considered this. "Well, I suppose that we're mostly covered for Patronuses, what with Wolfbar and the Malfoys, and now little Albus Potter here... not to mention myself..." She paused and tilted her head a bit. "How would you like to finish him off, Belinda dear?"
The girl at first looked mildly shocked, and then contemplative. Finally she smiled slowly. "Thank you," she said quietly, "I think I shall." Albus watched, not sure whether to be bemused or disconcerted, as she practically skipped out of the hall.
Bellatrix grinned widely.
(September 10, 2009 - 4:14 pm)
((*sniff...* Belinda's about to kill someone. *sniff sniff* I'm so proud.
Re: Harry: Er, soon?))
//Oliver//
A sort of greyish haze hung over his eyes. Like gauze, only there were bright pricks of light in it. He blinked, but the film didn't budge.
It hurt to breath.
There was something, though, something important...
But it was cold, how could he think when it was so very cold?
...the Ministry...
What?
It was too cold, too cold, too cold... And why couldn't he see?
Where was he, anyway?
The Ministry! They had to know...
Know what?
So cold, so tired, he needed to sleep... Yes, sleep. Sleep...
No! The Ministry! Have to get to the Ministry...
He'd sleep first, then get to the Ministry.
No, he couldn't sleep, he mustn't sleep...
They had to be warned...
Mustn't sleep, mustn't sleep.
Then there was noise, and more light- but why couldn't he see?- and a blurry face swung into view. Pinpricks of bright light outlined a chin, a mouth, a pair of eyes... and curls...
Belinda...
He mustn't sleep...
Belinda said something and there was a lot of green.
Oliver's eyes snapped open as he rocketed upwards and back, and for a moment caught sight of his own shrunken, mutilated body and Belinda standing over it with her wand out and a horrible twisted smile on her face.
Then he turned a corner and it was gone.
(September 10, 2009 - 5:41 pm)
((*literally shivers* That was very, very good.
Re: Harry: Specify? I agree that the sooner the better, though...))
//Albus//
"All right," Bellatrix said cheerfully. "That was a good enough start for the time being. Now that I have an idea of how much you know, we can really crack down more tomorrow." She clapped her hands together.
"Er... more?" Albus' aching body was having trouble with the concept of cracking down "more" than Bellatrix already had.
"Yes, more," said Bellatrix smoothly, "and work on your attack too, dear, it's very poor. Your defense is passable, though. Maybe practice with Wolfbar, you'd be about evenly matched." She smirked and began walking away.
"Wait, what do I do now?" Albus had no idea how to find his way around the manor, and did not fancy wandering around it all by himself.
"Bandage that nasty cut above on your forehead?" Bellatrix suggested with a raised eye. "Bye now dear, I'm going to see how Belinda's doing... it's a rather big day for her you know." She smiled at Albus, who decided that he liked her better without the manic grin, and Disapperated out of the hall.
(September 10, 2009 - 8:41 pm)
((//raised eye// *facepalm* Raised eyeBROW. Duh, Mary Liz...))
(September 11, 2009 - 2:58 pm)
((Re: Harry: Er, as soon as makes sense within the story, I guess?))
//Belinda//
Well, he was dead. Belinda aimed a kick at Oliver's body and strode out of the cell and into the upper regions of the manor.
She ran into Bellatrix on the staircase. The Death Eater grinned at her (Belinda had gotten so used to it by now that she hardly noticed how inhuman it made Bellatrix look), then continued downwards to dispose of the body.
Belinda smirked. She preferred the Cruciatus, of course, but killing wasn't nearly as difficult or scary as she had feared.
//Harry//
Voldemort was back.
It was the only explanation. Before the increasingly frequent murders had been conducted quietly and without any recognizable method...
Then, abruptly, Dark Marks were being shot into the air all over England.
Voldemort was back, again. It was the only possible explanation.
Harry had an awful, terrified feeling that Albus was with him, too. The timing couldn't be simply coincidental; Albus escapes from Borgin and Burkes through the Vanishing Cabinet, and the same evening the first Dark Mark appears over the roof of the auror in charge of the hunt?
His boy, his little boy, was in the hands of the Death Eaters and their master.
Harry had kept this suspicion to himself, confiding only in Hermione, who agreed that it was extremely likely.
Ginny didn't know, of course. The doctors had made it absolutely clear that she mustn't be subjected to any more worry, as she was very ill. She'd asked after Albus almost daily, however, and Harry had been forced to lie and say there was still no sign of him, but he was sure he'd be all right.
Harry hated lying to her, but what could he do?
In the mean time he waited for demands to come. Surely Voldemort would try to use Albus' predicament for his own gain, and Harry, of course, wouldn't be hesitating to hand over gold, information, anything for his boy's safety.
//Voldy//
The Dark Lord, anxious though he was, decided to wait for a few days before contacting Potter about his son. Let him stew for a while.
Dumbledore, while having many uncomfortable insights into the Dark Lord's life and mentality, had made at least one grievous error in his theories, and (ironically enough) it was the matter of love. The Dark Lord understood it well enough- understood its power- he just disliked it intensely.
However, in this case... The Dark Lord smirked. No doubt Potter would agree to almost anything to get his dear little boy back, safe and sound. Not that the Dark Lord had any intentions of sending Albus back (and Albus probably wouldn't have wanted to go anyway), but still...
Any information he asked for would probably be faked and anyway he could send Bellatrix or Rabastan or even Belinda to fetch plans or communications... The Dark Lord had considered demanding captives but he doubted that that would go over well with the Ministry in general, and Potter, after all, was hampered by regulations.
An Azkaban release would be equally useless, as the Dark Lord couldn't think of anyone remotely helpful who had been imprisoned. The Lestranges had more than enough money in their various accounts to cover any monetary needs, so that was out too.
So the Dark Lord had, after some deliberation, settled on Potter himself. He was reasonably certain that Potter would allow himself to be captured in exchange for Albus' freedom. He did have that hero complex, after all.
The Dark Lord smirked again. He'd let Bellatrix have him for a while... Possibly Belinda, too.
Good times, good times indeed.
He allowed himself a dark, brief chuckle, the closest he had ever come to an evil laugh.
(September 11, 2009 - 8:05 pm)