Variations

Chapter 5: The Story of the Death Eater

The Dark Lord was speaking and Nott was listening. They all were, it was impossible not to. The Dark Lord's voice was intriguing, intoxicating, rising and falling in all the right places, and what he was saying, about how the time of the purebloods was about to begin, how tomorrow all of Britain would be bowing down to them and the world would soon follow, that was intoxicating as well.

Nott hadn't seen the Dark Lord in almost two years, since before the fiasco in the Department of Mysteries landed him in Azkaban. Security in the supposedly inescapable prison was laughable with the Dementors gone. He could have escaped any time he wanted to. What he'd lacked was the proper motivation. Since he'd known that all that waited for him outside was the Dark Lord's considerable displeasure over losing the prophecy, Nott had been quite content to wait in Azkaban. That logic had served him well until three months ago, when his cell door had clicked mysteriously and obligingly open late one night and a particularly painful twinge to his Dark Mark tattoo had informed him that it would be in his best interest to take advantage of the opportunity: so Nott had left Azkaban along with the others who'd been caught in the Department of Mysteries and any who'd been clumsy enough to get themselves captured since.

Nott and the others had spent most of the last few months taking orders from other Death Eaters and performing the most distasteful and menial tasks in order to regain the Dark Lord's trust.

"Our patience is about to be rewarded," the Dark Lord said, jolting Nott from his thoughts. "They think we've given up and moved on. They think we're cowards. I think they're fools."

Nott nodded, finally understanding why they'd been ordered to stop all attacks for the past few weeks. It had been akin to torture for those Death Eaters who considered the night wasted if the Dark Mark wasn't hanging over at least fifteen houses come sunrise, but the lack of activity had lulled their opponents into a false sense of security.

"My sources tell me that the students of Hogwarts have been allowed to visit the village of Hogsmeade today," the Dark Lord continued. "The wards protecting Hogwarts, protecting Potter, have been weakened."

Of course, it always came back to Potter. Nott understood that the Dark Lord saw Potter as the only threat to his regime. That was why he'd been so interested in the Department of Mysteries, after all. But, though he would never admit it and rarely dared to think it, since the ranks of the Death Eaters contained so many Legilimens, Nott though that if the Dark Lord was certain that Potter was such a threat then he would be far wiser to stop giving the brat opportunities.

"We will enter Hogsmeade while the town is distracted by Dementors and enter the school by several paths. That is all."

The Dark Lord disappeared, but Bellatrix Lestrange picked up where he left off, explaining the locations of those several paths and what they were to do once they entered Hogwarts.

Less than an hour later, Nott was in a dark tunnel under the Shrieking Shack, bent double and trying to run as fast as he could but constantly hindered by stray roots and the feet of the Death Eaters in front of and behind him.

The plan to let the Dementors loose in Hogsmeade had gone off without a hitch, but slower than they'd expected, which was why they were in such a hurry. Just before leaving for Hogsmeade they'd heard a rumor that another group would travel through the Forbidden Forest with a Chimera, which they would let loose on the grounds. All of them wanted to be inside the castle before that happened, but first they had to get out of the tunnel.

Nott was just beginning to wonder how that dolt Peter Pettigrew could have possibly gotten them lost in a straight tunnel when he ran straight into Marcus Goyle, who'd stopped. A second later Nott let out a shout of annoyance as Rookwood ran into him.

"What's the matter!"

"Nothing!" came Pettigrew's quivering reply. "We're at the end of the tunnel."

Pettigrew didn't respond to the several shouts of, "Get a move on," but a few seconds later they were all out of the tunnel.

All of them were covered in mud, drenched thanks to the pouring rain, and hardly about to make the entrance the Dark Lord had probably imagined, but they still had the Chimera to worry about, so they started running for the front doors as fast as they could.

They found the door sealed at first, but once he convinced Goyle to stop trying to get it open by brute force alone it only took Nott a few seconds to determine the correct counter charm and let them inside.

Perhaps they should have anticipated resistance, but the people in Hogwarts shouldn't have known yet that they were under attack, so it was quite a shock to Nott when his head was nearly taken off the moment he stepped inside.

It was that old Auror Mad-Eye who had taken the shot. He was flanked by a few other Aurors and a couple members of the irritation that called itself the Order of the Phoenix. Mad-Eye seemed only vaguely annoyed that he'd missed and took aim for another try, but he and the others immediately rethought their strategy when another five Death Eaters followed Nott inside.

They exchanged spells for a few minutes, the defenders' line augmented gradually as more teachers and Order members arrived and the Death Eaters' line was augmented abruptly when five of those who'd been escorting the Chimera arrived, looking much the worse for the wear but quite eager for a fight they could win.

Nott had chosen to place himself directly next to Goyle. The huge lump of a man made excellent cover if anything Nott couldn't dodge came his way, but his spell casting was erratic, hitting his own line almost as often as it hit their opponents. It was because of this position that Nott had a clear view when one of Goyle's few well placed spells struck Professor Flitwick.

It was as he watched Flitwick fall that Nott realized something: they were waging a battle in a school. There were hundreds of students in here that had done nothing except for attend the same school as Harry Potter. Nott's own son was probably locked up in the Slytherin Common Room, just a staircase and a few hallways away. The man who'd just fallen, who might never get up, had taught Nott every charm he'd ever known, taught him the countercharm that got them through the front door.

Nott was suddenly so conflicted that he nearly lowered his wand, but he forced his doubts aside and returned to the battle. Their quarrel wasn't with the students, and if the teachers would just give them what they wanted, give them Potter, then their quarrel wouldn't be with them either.

The defenders seemed reluctant to use unforgivable curses, probably because of that stupid governing force they called nobility. Nott knew his fellows were avoiding those curses for one simple reason: the fight would be over too quickly if they did and they were enjoying themselves.

It surprised Nott as well, then, when he shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"

He didn't know why he did it, broke the silent pact that had governed the battle, at least not at first, but when the spell ran its course and hit one of the defenders, a witch he'd never seen before, slumped to the ground, he realized he'd somehow seen her take a sidelong glance in the direction of the staircase that led to Slytherin House, as though she longed to go down there and make sure that the students weren't about to join the fight on the wrong side.

Whatever the reasoning, it seemed that Nott was the only one who cared. All that mattered to the other Death Eaters was that they have a chance to use the killing curse as well and the Aurors responded in kind, though none of the other defenders. Nott smirked as he performed another spell. That kind of nobility would get them killed; it was already getting them killed. The Dark Lord was right. They were fools.

They did understand, however, that they couldn't last long in this kind of fight. Mad-Eye put on a predictable last stand, dropping a few Death Eaters including Goyle, before taking a killing curse himself, and the remaining defenders picked up their wounded and raced up the stairs. The Death Eaters gave chase, but the defenders had already disappeared.

After taking a moment to ponder his next move, Nott grabbed Pettigrew, who'd been eying a nearby suit of armor intently, by the robes, and demanded, "Where is Gryffindor House."

Pettigrew didn't respond right away, and Nott thought he recognized the glint in his eye.

"Transform and you're dead, rat!" he explained, giving Pettigrew a shake.

"Seventh floor, west side, behind the portrait of the Fat Lady," Pettigrew squeaked, only too eager to reveal his secret.

"Rookwood, Mulciber, with me," Nott ordered, releasing Pettigrew. "The rest of you, figure out some other place to look for Potter."

Nott couldn't recall ever having a reason to explore the seventh floor while he was in school and Pettigrew's directions hadn't been entirely specific, but they found the place he'd been referring to easily enough.

Then, fortune smiled upon them and, as they approached, Potter and his two little friends appeared, apparently out from under an invisibility cloak, and started to argue with the portrait. By silent agreement, Nott, Rookwood, and Mulciber split up to surround them.

The three targets' attentions were entirely on the portrait, but Nott took no chances as he approached. He couldn't even imagine the award he would receive when he presented Potter to Voldemort. Still, he couldn't control all of the elements and Peeves happened to be floating nearby. Perhaps the Poltergeist had a general distaste for people who attempted to move with stealth, perhaps he was trying to even out karma for the time he'd helped Nott and his girlfriend slip past Filch on their way back from the Astronomy Tower one night while he was still in school. Whatever the reason, Peeves blew a loud raspberry, effectively drawing Potter and his friends' attentions away from the portrait and straight to him. Nott tried to hide but wasn't fast enough and the next thing he knew the world had turned grey.

When everything slid back into focus he found three people standing in front of him.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You didn't just wipe his memory, did you? You modified it," one person, the tall one with red hair, said.

He hoped the question wasn't directed at him, because he hadn't even understood it. They hadn't seemed to hear his own question but he was desperate for an answer so he asked it again, then reached for his hair in his confusion and spotted a horrible black tattoo on his left wrist.

"Where did I get this?"

"Are you alright?" the girl asked. At least this time it was obvious that the question was for him. "Sorry I had to do that, McGonagall's probably going to kill me, but no one ever told us the keyword and I couldn't just let you capture us, could I."

That didn't make any sense at all.

"Sorry, but what keyword?" He wondered if he ought to ask about the McGonagall person as well. He sounded like a dangerous sort.

"Oh, right, I suppose you wouldn't know," the girl continued. "The mind's a funny thing that way. You're a sleeper agent for the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore did something to your memory so you wouldn't remember unless someone told you the keyword. Then you'd make your reports about what Voldemort is doing, someone would tell you another keyword to make you forget again, and you'd go back to the Death Eaters like nothing ever happened. You've been very helpful over the years."

"Oh," he sighed. He supposed it made a bit of sense, but everything was so jumbled up in his head.

"Does any of this sound familiar?" the girl asked.

"Did I volunteer for this?" he returned. Now that he'd said it, it sounded like a strange thing to ask, but it seemed important to him.

"Oh dear," the girl said, seeming distressed. "I must have done a worse job than I thought. It wasn't ever supposed to happen like this, I'm-"

"Nott!"

All three of the children jumped and raised their wands at the unexpected shout.

"Nott, is that me?" he asked as they found cover, a bit worried to realize that he didn't even know his own name.

"Yeah, that's you," the girl replied after a moment's hesitation.

"Then he's probably going to come this way looking for me," Nott said. He still wasn't entirely clear on the situation, but he'd gathered enough to know that the people who were looking for him, the Death Eaters were dangerous and the three children were trying to avoid them. "Listen, I'll go distract him, you three do what you need to do."

"No, wait," the girl yelped. "If they find out what's been going on..."

"I know," Nott replied. "But I guess it's what I'm for. Thanks for telling me the truth."

Nott couldn't fathom why, but the girl visibly shuddered at the last statement. He didn't have time to ask why and simply ran off in the direction of the shout.

"There you are," one of two waiting men said as he approached. "What happened to you?"

"I got lost," Nott ventured.

"How'd yeh manage that," the other man replied. "You had a straight run to them."

"Did you see where they went?" the first man pressed.

"No, I lost track of them," Nott stammered, "while I was lost."

"And our plan? Did yeh loose that too?" the second man hissed.

"P-plan?"

"What happened to you, Nott?" the first man said, eying him. "Whose side are you on?"

"Voldemort's?" Nott said, trying not to fidgit.

He was fairly certain that was the name the girl mentioned, but there must have been something wrong with that answer, because the two men looked at each other, then back at Nott, and one of them raised his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!"