The Future Will Be Better Tomorrow

The Future Will Be Better Tomorrow: Chapter Ten

Percy arrived at the party exactly five minutes late, only to find that he was one of the earliest. Mrs. Malfoy had opened the door, and Percy greeted her. Mrs Malfoy told him that she would be having dinner with her own friends, and would not be joining them.

The Malfoy Manor certainly did not disappoint him. It was every bit as extravagant as he had imagined, and while Percy wanted to stand around and admire the décor, doing so would make him seem so uncultured, as if he hd never set foot in such a building before. Truthfully, he had never, but still.

Malfoy came out to greet Percy. As far as Percy could see, Nott, Adrian, Marcus, Mulciber, Crabbe and Goyle were the only ones present.

Adrian offered to help him put the presents under the Christmas tree, and a house-elf proceeded to offer him some wine. Percy joined several of the Death Eaters in their conversation, when they were interrupted by some noise coming from the door.

"Narcissa!"

"Bellatrix!"

Percy looked over to see the two women hug fondly. They kissed each other on both cheeks, and Mrs. Malfoy leant over to hug Rodolphus as well. Rabastan and Antonin were somewhere behind them, and Mrs. Malfoy shook their hands, then she set off for her dinner date.

There was a warm fire crackling in the fireplace, and some house-elves were adding more wood to the fire. The Lestranges and Antonin proceeded to either hug or shake hands with everyone else, and then they dumped their presents under the tree.

After some more conversation, the rest of the Death Eaters arrived, and the house-elves began to serve the food. Conversation was rather formal and restrained over the dinner table.

The food was served in small portions, all in typical luxury dining fashion. Not that Percy ate any more usually. Percy was quite enjoying the dinner, a quiet and formal one, and it made him feel as if he was all grown up and part of the upper-class social circle.

After dinner they left the dining room for the drawing room, where they engaged in more conversation. Sometime through, Antonin and Rabastan asked Marcus to follow them, and they cornered him, presents hidden behind their backs.

"Guess what we got for you?" They asked, grinning away gleefully.

"What?"

Antonin and Rabastan unrolled the piece of paper, presumably a poster of some sort, and showed it to Marcus, who made some indiscernible sound. Percy guessed that he had been trying to stop himself from swearing out loud, and leant over to see what it was.

It was a poster of Oliver Wood, half-naked and drenched in water. Percy almost screamed himself. Oliver Wood? The Oliver Wood he studied with in Hogwarts? The same Oliver half-naked and drenched?

The Oliver Wood in the poster grinned smugly at them, as if to say, 'I know you really want me'. Percy was trying to calm down as much as he could. What was Oliver doing up there? And he was half-naked! The Oliver he knew wouldn't do something like that. Not half-naked, at least. Percy asked them how they got it.

Antonin proudly declared that he barged in on the Witch Weekly's 100 Most Eligible Bachelors photo shoot, and coerced Oliver into posing like that. But, he assured them, that out of respect of Oliver's privacy the negatives for this photo were private, and this was especially for Marcus, who looked somewhat horrified.

Percy found it quite cruel for them to force Oliver into the photo shoot and then give it to Marcus. For all Percy knew, Marcus could be upset over the reminder that his rival had been so successful in the Quidditch field.

Then Rabastan told them that they were joking, they did not force Oliver into taking this photo, which was met with shocked looks on both Marcus and Percy's faces. This poster of Oliver would be appearing as a special pullout poster in Witch Weekly's eligible bachelors special. They just stole the negative to develop a special one for Marcus.

Then they laughed, and Antonin dumped several large books into Marcus' hands. They were all Russian classic literature, in their original, un-translated versions. Marcus made a joking comment that if he ever needed the most useless gifts he could just approach the two of them.

"Oh, no. The books most definitely aren't useless, you could make Antonin read them to you," Rabastan had suggested.

Marcus gave a disgusted look, then laughed, and said that Rabastan would do better with the books instead of him.

And so after that, everyone proceeded to hand out his or her presents, and from Antonin and Rabastan he got a tie and a tiepin, 'for him to wear to office', they had said, raising their eyebrows suggestively. Percy was relieved to find that the tie was at least normal one, not one with gaudy or loud patterns.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Lucius went over to open it, only to find Christmas carollers. The carollers were mostly children, and they occasionally sang out of tune. After they had finished their first carol, Lucius hurriedly gave them a few Sickles and chased them away.

After that, several Death Eaters went outdoors. Walden Macnair was the first to go outside, because he wanted to smoke. Antonin and Rabastan had challenged Marcus and Adrian to a snowball fight.

Percy decided to go outside too. He felt very awkward in a room full of people who were at least ten years his senior.

When he got outside, he was immediately hit with a snowball. He felt rather annoyed, but decided to leave them alone. So he decided to lean against the wall. But then Macnair seemed to exude this aura that made Percy feel very uncomfortable. Percy wondered if he should go in again.

"Hey, Perce! Care to join us?"

Percy looked at the four of them. Adrian was attempting to build a snowman, and Antonin and Rabastan were trying to cover him with snow. Marcus was making random mounds of snow and kicking them. And how old were all of them again? Marcus should be around twenty-one. Adrian was around eighteen years old. Antonin and Rabastan... They had to be at least thirty. And here they were, acting as if they were no more than seven years old.

Also, if there was one thing Percy hated, it was being called 'Perce'. Wasn't 'Percy' short enough for them?

Adrian turned over to give Percy a smile, and then ran over to drag him away from the wall.

And Percy immediately thought, my shoes! What about my Gucci shoes?

Then he worried about his trousers. Ralph Lauren!

And Rabastan was dumping snow on him. His Burberry coat!

All the meals he skipped, all the money he scrimped and saved, he couldn't let his clothes be ruined like that.

Adrian dumped some snow on Rabastan, who attacked him instead. Percy began dusting the snow off his clothes, when Antonin jumped on him and pushed him down. Percy screamed in horror. His clothes!

Antonin rolled over and laughed. Percy sat up and began dusting the snow off again. Everyone else laughed, and Percy went back in, not before giving a scowl (in jest).

*

After Christmas, they resumed their usual spying activities, gathering information on the Ministry and so on, and months went by without any large-scale attacks. Their spying activities were carried out in complete secrecy, and they were never found out by Ministry personnel.

Then one day, sometime in May, the Dark Lord called them for a meeting. And he said that the wizarding world had been too peaceful lately, and so he wanted a large-scale attack.

The Dark Lord then went on to say that he would like an attack during a Quidditch game, particularly the Puddlemere-Magpies game that was the highlight of this season. Rumours were that Arthur Weasley would be present for this match, as he was quite a Montrose Magpies fan.

And he stopped pacing around, in front of Marcus.

"I'd like to see some people captured and brought to me. Him included," he said to Marcus, cold smile spreading slowly on his face.

"I believe this would be very exciting," the Dark Lord drawled.

After pacing about some more, he dismissed them, telling them he wanted to see them do a good job on this one.

*

Following that, meetings became more frequent. First there was the basic plan, which had to be revised many times, and then they had to figure out a way to break into the Quidditch Stadium.

And they had to make sure that none of them were caught under any circumstances. Then the newer Death Eaters were put through more intensive training, to increase their skills at the Dark Arts.

The plan this time was for an Imperius-centric attack, to cause mass chaos, and abduct all the people the Dark Lord wanted, namely, key Ministry figures. Percy realised that this would include his father, but he tried not to think about it so much. Besides, his family rejected him long ago.

No, Percy wasn't going to let it get to him.

Meanwhile, Marcus always seemed to be a little distraught at meetings. Percy couldn't figure out why, and he wasn't about to ask Marcus.

Eighteen Death Eaters. There were only eighteen Death Eaters. The stadium would be at the Caithness Quidditch stadium, which was located in the Flow Country. It was one of the biggest and most advanced Quidditch stadiums, and it could seat two hundred thousand people.

That would be about eleven thousand, one hundred and eleven people to a Death Eater. The numbers alone made Percy shudder in fear. Also, there would be all the security people around, and important Ministry personnel would have their own personal bodyguards. And there would be the Quidditch players. That would mean fourteen more people. And the referees! For professional matches they had one main referee and two assistant referees.

Percy felt so tired just thinking of the numbers. How were they going to do this? But then Percy remembered the Ministry building incident. The total death toll was two hundred and fifty-four people, and the number of people injured was about double of that.

The Ministry building was still undergoing construction, and they currently operated in the site of what appeared to the Muggles as an incomplete building.

And if this time they could achieve a similar number of casualties, it would almost be a miracle. They weren't using explosives this time. They were just using spells and whatever they had.

Then it struck Percy that Oliver Wood would be playing in the game. And his conscience told him to not let Oliver get harmed. They were still friends after all, and Oliver was possibly even closer to Percy than any of his family members had ever been.

They were to be split into a four groups first, and each group would take one side of the stadium. There were four entrances, but eighteen Death Eaters, and so there would be three groups of four and two of five.

Taking the North side would be Avery, Goyle, Rodolphus and Nott.

For South, Crabbe, Jugson, Macnair, Pettigrew and Percy.

For East, Antonin, Bellatrix, Malfoy, Rookwood and Travers.

For West, Marcus, Rabastan, Mulciber and Adrian.

Percy somewhat realised that the East team was probably the strongest, the West team the most co-operative. Percy wasn't too familiar with the people he was stuck with. He wished he could have been in the other teams, where there was either Nott or Adrian or Marcus. For goodness' sake, not even Antonin or Rabastan was on his team. And from what he remembered from Christmas, Macnair made him feel uneasy.

After entering, they would go on their own, using whatever curse they deem fit just to cause chaos. The VIP stand was on the East, so the East group would be in charge of the kidnapping. After causing enough chaos for the abduction of intended people, they would all leave. Or in case the mission failed, they were to Disapparate away immediately.

The whole point of this mission was to cause chaos, and unsettle the peace. It was, well, a terrorist attack if you thought about it. Several Death Eaters had complained about the groupings, but they were first and foremost grouped alphabetically, and then a few changes were made here and there.

Percy practiced his curses on the rats that populated the area where he lived. He was getting very good at it, and he found it an entertaining way to get rid of the rats.

Finally the day of the match arrived. Just about everyone else was excited over the match, the Death Eaters for different reasons.

They gathered some distance away from the stadium, and they got into their groups. Macnair had brought his executioner's axe, which greatly horrified Percy. Macnair was sharpening it eagerly, and Percy felt all the less at ease. Percy was somewhat disgruntled at the fact that his team had Crabbe and Wormtail, just about the two most inefficient Death Eaters ever. And Jugson was so quiet. He never talked to anyone; he was just playing with this spare bit of rubber band.

Percy talked to Marcus for a while, and Marcus wished him good luck with his team, nodding towards Macnair with his axe. Percy thanked him sarcastically, then they both looked at each other and laughed, then told each other how scared they really were, and then hugged for a while, until they realised several of the Death Eaters staring at them.

"Here we go," Marcus had said, before they split up into their groups and headed for their respective entrances.

At the South entrance, Macnair hacked the gate and it fell dramatically. Several bodyguards rushed up, but not one ever reached them.

Macnair paused for a while, letting the people take in the scene before them. "The Grim Reaper beckons," he said coolly.

Macnair swung his axe with such ease, dismembering all who foolishly came up. Some tried to curse them, but they were easily blocked out by a Protego. Most witches and wizards weren't skilled enough. Those with children were desperately trying to run for the exit, but with a flick of his wand, Jugson put the gate back in place.

Everywhere, there was screaming. Some of the people tried stunning them, but in the chaos, they often hit someone else. Or the Death Eaters just used any unsuspecting witch or wizard around them as a shield.

It was a bloody scene. There were arms and legs and other body parts lying on the floor, separated from the body. Percy tried to ignore them. He felt so sick inside. There was blood all over the place, blood of so many innocent witches and wizards.

Percy concentrated on a group of people running, and the people began to attack those around them. Some didn't even bother using a wand; they just fought physically. Elsewhere, it was as chaotic. People were hexing and jinxing each other, stepping over the injured people, stepping on the injured people.

A wizard lunged for Percy, who stopped him with a 'Crucio'. He fell to the floor, his screams louder than all others in the area, and Percy kicked the curled-up creature before moving on.

There were people who tried to disarm Percy, but before they could, Percy set their wands on fire. They would instinctively drop their wands, and occasion, set other's robes on fire, and if they were lucky enough, the 'other person' was lying on the floor unable to move.

There was a stampede, of course, and many people were trampled upon. Dead or alive, it didn't matter. Leg or arm missing, it didn't matter. Roasting slowly to death, in didn't matter, just as long as the person running was able to run. Occasionally, some people would slip and slide on the blood and trip over the tangled mass of internal organs on the floor.

Percy used the Imperius curse on this group of adult wizards whom he recognised worked at the Ministry. He used the Imperius curse to make them kill themselves, a method far more effective than killing them individually.

Percy felt powerful, and with that came confidence, and with that he caused more destruction. A number of people had run onto the pitch, and Percy followed them there.

And suddenly, someone swooped low, pointing a wand at him, yelling, "Expelliarmus!"

It was Oliver Wood. Percy almost lost his wand, if not for this foolish person who ran in-between them as Oliver cast the spell.

Percy stunned Oliver, and he fell off his broom. Percy then ran away. He didn't want to battle with Oliver.

Oliver, being the Gryffindor he was, tried to help all the people around him. He put out the people on fire with the Extinguishing Charm, and bravely attempted to fight a Death Eater.

Crabbe, namely. Oliver was just about to Petrify him when Macnair ran over and swung his axe. And tripped and fell.

Oliver looked somewhat shocked, but his reflexes were fast enough, and he ran away before anything else could happen. He ran for his broom, which Crabbe then set on fire.

The fire extinguished as soon as it was lit. Oliver mounted it, and took off into the sky, not to run away, but to continue fighting. And Percy wanted to yell at him, and tell the idiot to run away before he could get injured.

Oliver was heading for the VIP stand, where Percy could see there was a big struggle. All of a sudden, Oliver was blasted down, and Percy got so worried he ran over. Oliver got up, and Percy shoved him in the direction of exit. Oliver refused to budge, and attempted to stun Percy, whereupon his wand flew out of his hand.

Another Death Eater was approaching, and he had caught Oliver's wand. Percy got so frustrated he pushed Oliver to the exit again, and this time, Oliver did run.

"Still friends, huh?" It was Marcus.

"Fuck you." Percy replied, and shoved his way past him, but not before Marcus passed him Oliver's wand.

If Marcus had the time he would have most definitely stood there and gape, then make some comment on Percy's out of character behaviour.

Percy continued to attack some other people, when the green outline of a skull with a snake coming out from its mouth appeared in the sky, and then he Disapparated away.

*

The Death Eaters gathered round in their circle, and all the hostages were tied up, in the middle of it. The Dark Lord was inspecting every one of them, and then he turned to the Death Eaters.

"Avery. Why don't you tell me how this mission went?"

"I-I think it w-went quite well, Master."

"Quite well, huh? What about you, Lucius?"

"I believe it was a success. We managed to capture more Ministry personnel than we had expected, and the stadium was in such a state of chaos."

"So? You think it was a success?" The Dark Lord snapped at Malfoy.

"Yes. I believe it is, Master,"

"And you, Bella?"

"I agree it was a success."

The Dark Lord laughed his unnatural laugh, and stopped in front of Marcus.

"They say it's a success! A success! And what do you think?"

Marcus didn't reply for a while. Then he said, sounding defeated, "it was a failure."

"Heard him?" The Dark Lord turned to all the other Death Eaters. "Heard him? He said it's a failure."

Percy didn't know how to react. The Dark Lord laughed again.

"You failed me, didn't you?" The Dark Lord was bearing down on Marcus.

"Y-yes."

"Crucio."

Percy didn't understand. What didn't Marcus do? What did Marcus do? What was happening?

"All of you, I want you to take shifts looking after these people." The Dark Lord nodded towards the group of captured Ministry personnel in the centre. "Flint stays here."