The Faithful

The Faithful

They stood, arrayed before him, watching his every move, following him with their eyes and their hearts. The faithful ones who remained to fight on, who failed to believe that there was ever a time to give up, who would keep going as long as he lived to tell them to do so.

These were the ones he would trust with his life, these were the ones who would stand beside him in this last battle. All of them were children of the badger, and loyalty was their byword. They would never turn from him.

"You know what we face," he said at last, and if it were possible their focus on him would have become even more extreme, more direct. "You know what they will have to stand against you. We are out numbered, and they will show no mercy. It will be the hardest battle we have ever fought, and it will be our last. Either we come away from this battle victorious, or we do not come away. You must give your all in this battle, you must not shy away from doing what must be done."

His eyes scanned along the faces of his followers, his children - for children was what they were to him - looking to see that they understood, that they were willing and able. He need not have worried.

His heavy gaze came to rest on one of them, a young man, barely 23 years old, his most devoted assistant. "Ernie," he spoke the name kindly, a slight smile on his face. "Ernie, you above all know what we face, you above all know the cost of this night, and you, above all, I have never feared would falter, or fail me. Tell me, my boy, are they ready to go out into this battle? Are they ready to fight for our cause? Are they ready?"

His eyes were shining as he answered simply, "They are."

"And you, my boy? Are you ready to go and face the betrayers? Are you ready to fight with your old friends and know that they are your enemies? They turned from you, and tried to turn you, tried to make you abandon that which you were faithful to. Are you ready to fight and defeat them?"

Ernie Macmillan, 23 year old ex-Hufflepuff and faithful Death Eater knelt at the feet of his lord and master. "My lord, I am." And all around him his fellows followed his lead, kneeling before the Dark Lord and saying, "My lord."

Voldemort gazed down upon his small, faithful band of followers, and he smiled. They would fight to the death for him, to the death and beyond, for they were Hufflepuffs, and they were not afraid of hard work. They were Hufflepuffs, and beyond all things they were loyal. They were Hufflepuffs, and they would never betray, and they would never turn, and they would never give in and run.

They were Hufflepuffs, the ignored, the extras, the forgotten. The abandoned children of the world. But he would not abandon them, for they would never abandon him.

The Muggles say "The meek shall inherit the earth," and with Lord Voldemort's help, they just very well might.