A Light in the Dark

Marcus Flint sighed heavily as he knocked on the door to Malfoy Manor.

I did not become a Death Eater for the cocktail parties... he thought bitterly to himself. Since joining Voldemort's ranks of Death Eaters, Marcus had seen no action. He knew that some Death Eaters got to go out and kill Muggles and Muggle-borns, but he had not been assigned to do so yet.

The heavy mahogany door was opened by a house elf who bowed deeply to him. Marcus walked past the pointy-eared help without so much as a glance and made his way into the dining room. It was full of people standing around with drinks in their hands. To an outsider, this scene may have just looked like a bunch of well-to-do people talking about idle gossip. But Marcus knew that the random tinkles of laughter were probably caused by someone's story about the most recent Muggle-killing.

That I wasn't a part of... he thought, taking a glass of wine from another house-elf that was wandering amongst the wizards.

He scanned the crowd quickly to see if he could find some of his old Quidditch pals. Warrington was chatting up some bird in the corner and Bole was busy talking with Malfoy Senior. Not seeing any other of his friends, Marcus resigned himself to drinking his wine alone, waiting for more people to arrive.

He didn't have to wait long when Adrian Pucey walked through the door and caught Marcus' eye. Adrian walked over to Marcus, grabbing a glass of wine on the way.

"Hello, Flint. How've you been?"

Marcus shrugged and took a large gulp of his wine. "Not too bad, yourself?"

"I'm glad you asked! I've been doing just great, mate!" Adrian smiled broadly and looked like he was about to burst with glee. "I got to go on my first assignment. Muggle-borns in Kent. Isn't it great?"

"You have got to be kidding, Pucey!" Marcus growled. Adrian's smile fell quickly at Marcus' reaction. "I have been waiting forever for an assignment! What the hell makes you so special?!"

Adrian quickly regained his composure and fixed his face with the famous Slytherin Smirk.

"Firstly, Flint, I've been a Death Eater longer than you..."

Marcus scoffed, "What, like a month?"

"Secondly," Adrian went on as if Marcus hadn't interrupted, "I've made quite an impression on the senior members and they conveyed to The Dark Lord that I was ready for an assignment."

Marcus scowled into his wine glass. Truth be told, he hadn't kissed up to the senior Death Eaters as much as some of the other members had. He didn't see the reason to. He wasn't here to fawn over them, he was here to serve The Dark Lord.

But if I have to kiss their ass' to do it, then fine, he concluded resolutely.

Marcus met Adrian's eye and saw that he still had that smirk on his face. Marcus wanted nothing more than to wipe it off his face, but restrained himself. He returned the smirk.

"I guess you're right, Pucey," he sighed, "I guess I'll have to go kiss some ass. If you'll excuse me."

He left Adrian standing there and made his way to where Bole was talking with Lucius Malfoy. He joined in their conversation easily. It was easy for Marcus to mingle in crowds, he was actually quite charming when he put his mind to it. The problem was that he didn't always put his mind to it and therefor people were usually intimidated by him. Marcus didn't mind being intimidating at all, he found it very useful actually. But Lucius Malfoy and the other senior Death Eaters were not to be intimidated. They were to be flattered shamelessly until Marcus got what he wanted. And all he wanted right now was for Lord Voldemort to give him an assignment to kill or torture some Muggle-borns. Really, was that too much to ask?

He made nice with Malfoy for a while before he moved on. The point of mingling was to schmooze with as many people as possible while still making the conversation worthwhile. Avery was his next target, and then the Lestranges.

Marcus found it difficult to talk with Bellatrix Lestrange. She was so devoted to the Dark Lord that her mind was never fully on the conversation. Marcus guessed that she must have been very pretty at one point, but that accursed Azkaban had taken it's toll on her. Her husband, Rodolphus , still looked at her fondly, though, despite her gaunt appearance.

"Were you two on the Kent assignment?" Marcus asked conversationally.

Bellatrix laughed and shook her head "No, no, dear boy. These days, our time has been spent with The Dark Lord. We've been concocting grand schemes to overthrow that bumbling idiot at Hogwarts."

"Dumbledore," Marcus growled. He didn't care for the Headmaster at Hogwarts and now thought even less of him since he'd become a Death Eater.

"The problem is, though, that we think that Snape may not be completely faithful to our side. Of course, we have no proof. The Dark Lord still trusts Snape, so we're the ones who are skeptical. If only we could get someone to spy for us that had no choice but to be loyal," mused Bellatrix.

"A student, perhaps?" Marcus offered.

"A student would be ideal," Rodolphus said, "but the problem would be how to get into Hogwarts to kidnap one? Then once we've got him, how do we make him spy for us?"

"The Imperious curse would work, wouldn't it?" Marcus was getting interested. This idea could really work if they got rid of all the kinks.

"People can throw off the curse. Fear is what keeps them loyal," Bellatrix said firmly. "Fear of death or fear of someone else dying because of their actions."

"Well, what if we just got a spy from the Slytherin house? Some of them have got loyalty ingrained in them." Marcus knew that he had had loyalty since he could pick up a wand. His parents had never tried to hide their loyalty to Voldemort. His mother and father had gone to Azkaban rather than betray the Dark Lord. They died a few years into their sentence, but they had died fiercely loyal.

"People would suspect Slytherins. They have less than admirable reputations, after all," Rodolphus smiled.

"A Gryffindor would be the most ideal," Bellatrix murmured, as if thinking out loud.

"A Gryffindor?" Marcus tried to remember some members of Gryffindor house. He could only remember the Quidditch players. Oliver Wood had graduated years ago, and he heard that the Weasly twins had left school without graduating. That left only Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, and Potter that he remembered. Well, Potter was definitely out of the question. That left Bell, Johnson and Spinnet. Johnson was also out of the question, the girl had too much will. It would have to be either Spinnet or Bell. He smirked. Bell, she would do it. She was one of the quiet ones. The quiet ones were the ones capable of anything. He could work with her. Spinnet was far too open with everything. She would blab first chance she got. She had no pride. But Bell had some spirit in her, she had pride, it would be fun to watch her break.

Marcus smiled at Bellatrix, his eyes sparked with triumph. "I know just the Gryffindor. Katie Bell, she plays on the Quidditch team with Potter. She's in the kind of position where she could overhear something useful now and then."

Bellatrix and her husband looked at the man before them, appraising him with cold eyes. A slight smile transformed Bellatrix's face.

"I like the way you're thinking Marcus. We'll discuss this with Voldemort and see if he approves."

Marcus puffed with pride, he was going to show them all how useful he could be. Marcus Flint was going to make a name for himself with this group. He would stop at nothing to achieve greatness. The Dark Lord would know he could count on him.

That night as he fell to sleep, he went over the events of the party. He had been told that if his idea went through, he would be responsible for it's execution. He expected an owl in a few days letting him know. Tomorrow, with or without the approval of the idea, he was going to start digging up Katie Bell's secrets, unearthing them until there was nothing left to unearth. He smirked at the thought of having Katie under his thumb. There was something about that girl that got to him. Something about her that made him want to see her begging him for mercy. And to top it all off, he would be conquering a Gryffindor. A smug, goodie two shoes Gryffindor. His eyes drooped with that thought, sleep over taking him. But he slept with a smile on his face, as visions of the Dark Lord praising him and Katie Bell looked defeated filled his dreams.