Voldemort Ascendant

Chapter one: The Lost Boy

On her way down to the kitchens, where she slept with half-a-dozen 'mud-blood' servants like herself, Hermione was cautious not to encounter any students nor professors, carefully ducking into shadows and behind doors whenever she thought she heard footsteps. She wasn't sure she could handle another encounter with a taunting pure-blood; her run-in with Blaise Zabini had left her feeling powerless, but Lucius Malfoy's appearance and subsequent words had made her feel vulnerable and somehow indebted to him, and she hated that more than she hated the knowledge that once-upon-a-time, protecting herself would have been as simple as a swish of her wand.

Parvati Patil looked up from chopping vegetables as Hermione entered the kitchens. Gesturing at the vegetables and knives, Parvati scowled. 'You'd think they'd allow us our wands or some sort of charm to chop all these vegetables. Sure, it'd make our lives easier, but surely they could risk that if only because we'd get their meals made ten times faster.'

Hermione largely ignored Parvati: every evening she made the same complaints and justifications for the return of their wands. Hermione had heard it all before. Noticing Hermione's lack of reply, Parvati took a close look at her. 'You look like shit,' she observed. There was nothing malicious in the comment, just simple truth. 'They didn't make you muck out the owl's tower, did they?' Hermione shook her head and found a knife, then snatched up a handful of carrots and started viciously slicing them. Parvati's eyes widened. 'Who was it? Crabbe? I didn't imagine he'd dare after Malfoy Senior dealt with him for trying to . . . was it him?' Parvati pressed, and brought her knife down heavily onto a cucumber, neatly splicing it down the middle.

'It wasn't anybody, Parvati,' Hermione lied.

'Rubbish,' Parvati responded. 'No female cuts up her carrots that viciously unless her mind is on some male. Who was it?'

Hermione allowed herself a slight smirk. 'Zabini,' she replied, and briefly looked up as Parvati hissed.

'That slimy toad. If I had a wand, I'd forget any charms or curses I know and simply smack him between the legs with it.' She raised her knife and once more brought it down heavily upon the cucumber she was effectively butchering.

'Meanwhile, you're pulverising that cucumber,' Hermione pointed out.

'And I suppose you're lavishing nothing but love and affection upon those carrots?' Parvati stared pointedly at the decimated carrots lining Hermione's chopping board.

Hermione finally realised what she was doing. 'Oh! I wasn't really paying attention,' Hermione replied.

Parvati flashed a wicked grin at Hermione, then adopted a more sombre expression. 'He didn't . . . you know?' she asked, her voice full of concern.

Hermione shook her head and focussed on her carrots. 'No. Malfoy Senior walked in before he could really try anything,' Hermione said, her voice bitter. 'I imagine he's dealing with Zabini right now.'

'I might almost feel sorry for him if Zabini weren't such a disgusting excuse for a wizard. Lucius is far from being a kind man. I heard that he put a spell on Crabbe that shrivelled his manly-bits for a month!' Parvati gave Hermione an appraising look. 'But that's not what shocked me . . . what shocked me was that Crabbe had any manly bits to shrivel in the first place!'

Despite herself, Hermione giggled. Parvati was a gossip and a whinger, and she never really worked all that hard, but despite it all, she was still a kind girl at heart, and since the death of her sister and best-friend during the period of Voldemort's rise to power, she had come to rely heavily upon Hermione's companionship. Likewise, having lost many of those she formerly relied upon, Hermione had come to value Parvati's company. Grabbing another handful of carrots, Hermione hacked into them with a vengeance, and let her mind wonder back to the bathroom she'd been cleaning and Zabini's comments about Harry. Glancing up, she gave Parvati a thoughtful look. 'Zabini mentioned Harry when he was . . . you know,' she said slowly. Parvati grimaced slightly. Like many, she'd put her faith in Harry Potter's ability to save them all. It had come as a hurtful shock to learn that he wasn't, as so many believed, infallible.

'What did he say?' Parvati asked.

'He said that Harry's mindless.'

'Do you think it's true?'

Hermione slowly stopped chopping the carrots and laid down her knife. 'I don't know what to believe. I wasn't even sure if he was still alive, to tell the truth. I mean, it has been over two years since I saw him last.'

Parvati paused from chopping cucumbers. 'Two years? The . . . the battle . . . it was two and a half years ago.' Hermione nodded, and Parvati's eyes widened. 'You mean you saw him after the battle?' she demanded, incredulous.

Hermione nodded and lowered her voice. 'Before the house-elves fled, they led me down to the old Slytherin rooms - they converted them back into dungeons after they changed Hogwarts. That's where Harry was. I could never actually talk to him, it was just too dangerous. But at least I knew he was alive. And as much as it pains me to say it, they weren't treating him too badly. From what Dobby told me, Harry was pretty much just left to rot down there.'

'Why didn't you tell me!' Parvati cried, then quietened when Hermione made a soft shhh sound. 'How did the house-elves even get you down there without being seen?'

Hermione's voice was slowly becoming softer and softer. 'The house-elves have a magic all of their own,' she whispered. 'They can do basic magics, like transporting the food from the kitchens to the tables above, or moving other objects, without much trouble. They can also perform greater acts of magic, but it drains them. They were able to cloak me so that I was almost invisible . . . provided I stayed in the darker shadows, I could enter the dungeons without being seen. But I couldn't talk to Harry or communicate to him that I was there, else the guards would have known I was there. But then they moved the dementors down there, and the house-elves fled shortly after. I haven't seen him since.'

Parvati's eyes were the size of saucers. 'By the light, Hermione, if you'd been caught . . .' she didn't need to finish the sentence.

'I know,' Hermione said softly. 'I had to see him, had to know he was okay. But there's just no safe way to check on him anymore. I'm just not willing to risk my life-'

'The brave Hermione Granger, unwilling to risk her life?' Parvati questioned dramatically.

Hermione gave an irritated sigh. 'Of course not. I need to be alive if I'm to work out a way to save him some day.'

Parvati frowned and sent an anxious look at Hermione. 'Are you serious? There's no way you can save him now! The Dark Lord has been in power for over two years. Hogwarts is ruled by Lucius Malfoy and administered to exclusively by Death-Eaters. Even the students are Death-Eaters and have all sworn allegiance to Vol - I can't even say his name! - to the Dark Lord. If anyone survived the night of the battle, they surely fled the country. Even if they hadn't fled, you don't have a wand - how can you expect to get past even a seventh year student without a wand? They'll all trained in curses and hexes from the age of eight these days, they'd kill you without a thought. You can't possibly hope to ever help Harry. That's even if he's alive. Zabini probably only said that to hurt you.'

Hermione bit her lip and shook her head briefly. 'Don't you think I know all of that? I'm not planning anything soon. I'm just saying that one day, maybe . . .' she shrugged and went back to cutting carrots.

'One day is a long way away, Hermione,' Parvati said softly, and returned to cutting cucumbers.

***

Harry tossed and turned, moaning and occasionally crying out. He was caught in one of the nightmares again, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wake himself up. Green lights flashed against his eyelids, and his ears were filled by the cries of the dying and terrified.

Harry! Help us, Harry! Why won't you save us?'

Save me, Harry! Why don't you stop them? Harry-!

Do something, Harry! Do something!

He could see them. See their faces, feel their hands reaching out and grabbing him, hear their cries . . . and hear the laughter. It was coming from all around him, evil and lusty. He recognised the pattern after a while - flash of green light, bout of laughter. They laughed as they killed. The more cruel of the Death-Eaters didn't cast the killing curse straight away - they cast the Imperius Curse, then made them kill each other.

Fragments of the final battle returned to him, jumbled, distorted, exagerated by the chilling presence of the dementors outside his room. He thought he saw a flash of red hair dash across his vision - Ron! - then felt himself stumbling over something hard and warm. Blood frothed from a pale freckled face, bubbling like a fountain as the dying boy looked at him with accusing eyes. Why didn't you save me, Harry?

Harry gasped in horror and stumbled away, lost in a sea of the dying. It wasn't my fault . . . I couldn't have saved him . . . there was nothing I could do!, he repeated to himself over and over, but the sound of his voice was drowned out by more screams.

By the light, make it stop! Harry, over here! Please help me! Please!

Their voices came like a roar, tearing at his skull, demanding salvation. Raising his hands to his ears, he whimpered and shook his head. 'Stop it,' he whispered. 'Leave me alone, there's nothing I can do . . . stop it! Go away . . . please, I can't help you anymore . . . ' gradually his whispers became cries of pain, until finally he was yelling and his screams bounced off the stone walls. 'Leave me alone! Stop it! Leave me alone!'

In the darkness, the dementors gathered around the dungeon door in a feeding frenzy, eager to feed off the demons radiating from the pale, trembling boy within.

Beyond the dementors, down the hallway, comfortably settled in the room formerly known as the Slytherin common room, Draco Malfoy smirked, relishing the cries of agony coming from his former enemy. 'He's quite mad,' he laughed, and the girl kneeling at his feet looked up at him, smiling tentatively. 'Don't stop, you silly bitch,' he snarled, and lightly slapped her. Behind him, Pansy Parkinson laughed. 'I can't believe what these fangirls of yours will do to get in your good books,' she purred, then draped her arms around his neck and lightly nipped at his ear. Draco jerked in pain, then grinned.

'I just wonder whether they do it of their own accord or at the urging of their parents,' he said softly, then gave an exagerated moan of pleasure as Harry's screams increased in intensity. 'I must have done something amazing in a past life to deserve all this.'

'I dare say,' Pansy whispered, and moved around the chair so that she was now beside Draco. 'Something extraordinary,' she continued, and then started lightly nibbling Draco's neck. Draco closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. Pansy's experienced fingers moved to Draco's gown, which she quickly unlaced and parted. Moving around Draco, she remembered the girl at Draco's feet. She glared at the girl, but the girl was preoccupied with the task Draco had set her, and Pansy promptly raised her foot and kicked the girl sharply in the ribs. The girl cried out in pain and sent a hurt look at Draco. Draco shrugged and offered a mock-apologetic smile. 'Get out of here, slut,' Pansy snarled, and watched in amusement as the girl snatched up her disgarded clothes and ran, half-naked, from the room. 'And now to enjoying a real expert,' Pansy purred, taking the place of the fled girl.

Draco closed his eyes once more, his smirk becoming a wide grin as more of Harry's screams filled the air.

***

Parvati rushed into the kitchens, breathless. 'Hermione! Hermione!' she called, eagerly seeking out Hermione. Hermione straighted above the wide fireplace where she was cooking breakfast for the hundreds of students seated above the kitchen in the Great Hall.

'I'm here,' she said, wiping her hands on her apron. 'What is it?'

Parvati quickly stepped into the kitchen, carefully closing the door behind her and depositing half-a-dozen empty bread baskets onto the large table in the centre of the room. 'Harry's alive! It's what all the students in the hall are talking about!'

Hermione nodded. 'I never really doubted it,' she replied, moving to the table and picking up a large lump of dough.

Parvati's eyes widened. 'That's all you have to say? You never really doubted it?!'

Hermione pounded the dough. 'Well I just think I'd have felt it if he'd died.'

Parvati rolled her eyes. 'Whatever,'she said dismissively. 'One of the fourth year girls was apparently taken down into the old Slytherin common room by Draco Malfoy - he takes girls down there and engages in various sexual acts with them. Everyone says she was giving him a headjob whilst Pansy Parkinson stood behind, watching the entire thing - what a pervert! I mean, both of them are, fancy doing that sort of thing down in the dungeons, surrounded by dementors and-'

'Parvati, I really don't care what he does. What does this have to do with Harry?'

'The girl could hear Harry screaming from the dungeons. That's the reason Draco takes the girl's down there - he enjoys listening to Harry scream.'

Hermione looked outraged. 'Why was Harry screaming?!'

Parvati suddenly lost the gleam in her eyes. 'According to Draco, Harry's mad. He's surrounded by dementors day and night . . .'

Hermione gasped. 'Oh by the light . . . no wonder he's mad. The nightmares he must have . . .' she bit her lip as thoughts of what Harry must be suffering assaulted her. 'He'd be better off dead,' she whispered to herself. 'I always presumed Harry could fight them off, mentally at least. Surrounded by dementors though . . . even in Azkaban they had limits to the number of dementors to each prisoner, and how often they came into contact with prisoners . . .what are they trying to do to him? Why would they do this?'

Parvati gave Hermione a strange look. 'Do you really need to ask?'

Hermione swore. 'Sorry, this is just so . . . for so long I've hardly had time to think of Harry . . . I think I was trying to just get on with my own life. Maybe I did think he was dead. I just didn't want to have to confront it . . . and suddenly Zabini tells me Harry's mad, and now this!' Hermione raised a knuckle to her mouth and bit it, thinking. I can't just leave him there, knowing what I now know. But what can I hope to do?

'There's nothing you can do,' Parvati said softly, reading Hermione's mind. 'Just let it be for now. And maybe one day, something will come up.'

Hermione nodded, and pounded her fist into the dough. .