What If?

~*In a dark cavern far away from where Harry and his new-found friends were...*~

"Wormtail!"

"Y-yes Master?"

"Gather my Death Eaters, we have matters to discuss."

"Yes, Master!"

Wormtail, formerly known as Peter Pettigrew, scampered off. The old Gringotts vaults had all been emptied. The dragons, presumably, were all long dead, though there were still rumors of one that existed in the very deepest, darkest vaults. Voldemort had long since enslaved all of the goblins.

Death Eaters began to trickle into the large room and took their respective seats along three long meeting tables. The Dark Lord sat upon a raised platform at the front of the room.

Once every chair was filled, Voldemort scanned the sea of faces. Most of his Death Eaters he didn't know by name- he only bothered with the most loyal and trustworthy There was Lucius Malfoy and his young son... Draco, wasn't it? Then there were the Crabbes and Goyles, both father and son teams like the Malfoys. Voldemort smiled inwardly. Neither the Crabbe's or Goyle's were very bright at all. Lastly, there was Severus Snape.

The Dark Lord stood up from his chair on the platform and said, "Friends, followers. I have called you here today to discuss matters that have been vexing me for some time now. Since I have come to power, there have been many wizards in hiding. For the longest time they didn't pose any threat to me, so left them alone to live out their lives of solitude. But now, after so many years, they unite in secrecy and attack my forces when least expected. Some of these groups we have found and killed, but most are still out there. They are becoming less and less scared and more rebellious and strong."

He locked eyes with Lucius. "I plan to send out a group of you, under the command of my faithful friend, Lucius Malfoy. This group's only mission is to find and destroy these rebels. They should easily crumble and fall when met with my forces."

Lucius nodded curtly. A murmur ran down the tables. Many of the Death Eaters present had seen these witches and wizards kill many of their companions in battle. Why would this mission turn out any better?

Voldemort cleared his throat before continuing. "I will give a list of names of those who will be going on this mission to Mr. Malfoy. He will notify you if you are to come, and you will leave in the morning." He paused, eyes roaming the tables, and met eyes with Lucius once more, nodding as to indicate for him to come up to the platform afterwards. "You are dismissed."

Right away, the talking started up again. Lucius came up to Voldemort's chair.

"My Lord?"

"Hello, my friend." He handed Lucius a scroll of parchment. "I trust you will not fail?"

"I could never fail, my lord." Lucius's gaze ran down the parchment. He raised an eyebrow. "I see my son's name is not on here. May I have permission to bring him?"

"Is he well trained for battle?"

"Yes my lord."

"Then you may."

"Thank you, my Lord."

By this time everyone in the room had dispersed, heading back to their own private chambers.

Lucius left the room and headed toward one of the mine carts that would take him back to his room on one of the upper levels. He stopped several times along the way upon seeing one of the people whose names were on his list.

Finally, reaching his room, he stepped out of the cart. He entered his chambers to find his son reading an ancient, tattered copy of Hogwarts: A History.

"Why do you insist on reading such rubbish?"

Draco smirked at him. "Just to spite you, Father."

"Hmmph! Well you are very good at it. Why can't you spend your time practicing your curses or something useful? I mean really, there isn't a Hogwarts anymore anyway."

"I guess I just know how to push your buttons. I enjoy it." Draco smirked at his father who was clearly annoyed.

Lucius pulled out two bags and tossed one to his son. "Well, you'll have plenty of time to do that while we are out killing those Muggle-loving fools."

Draco stood up, outraged. "But I don't want to go! They may be Muggle-loving fools, but they are strong and smart muggle-loving fools and I for one would like to stay alive. Not that this is any way to live."

Now it was Lucius's turn to be angry. "I don't care what you want. You are coming and that's final. We leave in the morning."

Draco stormed off to his separate chamber. "Fine!" he said, slamming the door. He grabbed the bag that was flung at him and began stuffing clothes in it. "Stupid Father! Always making me do what he wants! He can go fight the bleeding wizards himself."

Just then, a plan began forming in his mind. He hurriedly finished packing his bag and grabbed his wand and broom.

Night passed and morning dawned. Lucius went to Draco's room and rapped on the door. Upon getting no reply, he pushed the door open. "Come on you little prat, I told you to be ready."

He looked around the empty room. "Draco? Draco?!" Then what had happened dawned on him. "Argh! I'll get you for this!"

* * * * *

Sirius was talking to Bill and Charlie about the war. "Have you seen young Oliver Wood? He's gone to fight and I worry about him. The Woods are one of the families I'm in charge of, and it would be great to have news of him when we go to check in on them."

Charlie gave it some thought. "No, I don't know that I have heard of him. He's probably in a different division than us though. He could be under Lupin."

"Oh, Well I'm sure he's fine then," said Sirius.

Harry, Ron, Fred, and George were listening intently. They loved to hear about the war.

"Why can't we help, mum?" asked Fred.

"Yeah! Harry's younger than us, but he gets to go with Sirius!" added Ron.

Molly sighed. "You three know I didn't let Bill or Charlie go until they were nineteen."

The twins looked at each other and then to Ron and Harry, eyes twinkling. "OK, mum," said Fred.

Ron stood up, saying, "We're gonna go upstairs. Come on Harry." They all raced up the stairs and into the twins' room.

George closed the door behind them. "All right, here's the plan: Harry, what kind of spell did your uncle use on the broom to have it follow his own?"

"Um, I'm not sure. It came from a book my dad has."

"Could you recognize it if you saw it again?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"All right, then you come with me to my dad's office." He started to leave. "Oh, and grab your invisibility cloak. The rest of you stay here."

Harry and George padded down the hall into Mr. Weasley's office. George's hand appeared from beneath his cloak and gestured toward a large bookshelf that lined one wall.

Harry searched for a while, running his finger down the spines of the books, before finally stopping. "This is it," he whispered.

It was a large black book called Advanced Broom Enchanting. Harry and George grabbed the book and quickly left the way they had come in, but before they could get back to the twins' room, they heard voices down the hall and froze. They both backed up against the wall and went silent as the voices drew nearer.

"I don't know when or where they plan to attack. Dumbledore doesn't even know. It's best that your boys stay here. It's safer. I plan to take Harry home after we finish my rounds." This was the voice of Sirius, who came around the corner seconds later, looking very grave and worried.

"I worry about Bill and Charlie out there," said Molly, who was close behind Sirius, walking with Arthur.

Sirius continued. "I think Harry and I will head out first thing in the morning, before the others wake up. He'll understand..." The door shut behind Sirius, preventing any more of the conversation from being heard by invisible ears.

They pulled off their cloaks and sprinted back to the room, shutting the door behind them. Breathing heavily, George said, "We have to hurry. Ron, you go get the brooms while Fred and I pack. We'll need to travel light. Harry, you will put the spell on the brooms, because you are the only one who's seen it before. Got it?"

George looked around, and everyone replied in unison, "Got it."

Harry nodded. "You must be ready tonight because Sirius is planning to leave before you get up." He looked around with a grin. "This should be fun."