Behind the Shadows [Book One]

Chapter Eighteen:

[[A/N: Like 4 people have already read the first half of this chapter, but I stayed a bit longer at my friends house and so decided to delete the super short chapter 18 and turn it into something a bit longer, I hope you all enjoy it!]]

Chapter Eighteen:

"I have to look perfect, I can't simply waltz in to see the Dark Lord in shorts and a t-shirt Bellatrix. I must look like I've actually put some thought into my dress so that I could make a good first impression," I admonished Bella after she casually remarked that I needn't change my clothes after our training even though I was going to meet one of the most important and life changing men in our world.

"He doesn't care what shirt you wear, girl, he simply cares about whether or not you're worth the effort he'll be putting in to you."

"And will I?"

"Will you what?" Bella replied, her attention already driven from me as she looked at herself in the mirror. I did adore her teachings and even occasionally her company but Merlin she was a vain woman. Of course, I would be too if I looked like her. With her thin figure, curly hair and smooth skin she was a sight to behold and I could completely understand her vanity even at the worst possible times.

"Will I be worth the Dark Lord's time?"

"I'm sure he'll find some use for you," she answered, her mind obviously not on the question I asked but rather on whether or not she looked well enough to meet with her King.

I dressed in all black, wearing a robe over my slacks and blouse but I kept my hood down. I wanted to be seen, not to blend in with the rest of his Death Eaters and surely with my looks perfectly resembling a female Harry Potter, I was sure to catch attention. Everyone knew his face, therefore everyone would know mine and though I couldn't possible join these people and help them kill my brother, I could join them and become the person I was meant to be.

The woman I was meant to be.

*

His head was bald, his face was the palest of any I'd ever seen yet looked to have a greyish tinge to it as well. He had no facial hair, eyebrows or otherwise and his lips were thin and drawn painfully tight across his face as he smiled at Bellatrix Lestrange as she showed me off.

But the most distinctive feature of him was his nose, or rather lack of it. He had nostrils in his face but they resembled more of a snakes nostrils than a humans. When he smiled, his teeth were jagged and reminded me vaguely of a shark.

When the Dark Lord spoke it was without emotion and sent shivers cascading through my body as I thought of all the pain he has caused and the pain he could easily cause should he put his mind to it. It wasn't shivers of disgust however, and only slightly were they of fear.

It was anticipation that shook me to my very core, the thought that at any moment I would test out my spells and show them to one of the most powerful wizards in our history and he would judge me on them and deem whether or not I was fit for his company or better off dead.

"Show him the curse, girl."

"I uh.. I need two things first. One, something inanimate and preferably large so it's easier to see.. and two, I need a person. Preferably someone you don't mind dying a horribly painful death. The human part of this curse is untested, but I'm relatively sure it will work according to plan and the inanimate part works just as it should. Basically, I'm going to destroy this thing and person so fully that it will be like it was never there. All evidence will be destroyed with the curse."

Voldemort stared me down, obviously attempted to intimidate me (it was working quite well actually) before gesturing to one of the hooded and masked figures seated beside him.

"Get them."

Within moments a large coat stand was in front of me. Beside that was a man with stringy blond hair, naked and shivering, crying and begging pathetically for his life. I couldn't understand his words as I do believe he was speaking in Russian but it didn't take a genius to deduce exactly what he was thinking.

"Casoplenta," I stabbed my wand towards the coat rack before jerking in an upward motion and watched as it burst into the usual black flames before disintegrating and the ashes blew away in a wind that should have never been there in the first place.

Glancing to the crowd seated at the table, none looked to be too impressed with my work so I moved on to the man.

I'd never killed a man before but often I'd thought about it. I wanted to kill Dolores Umbridge one day and I'd put much thought into joining the Death Eaters even knowing that I'd have to kill many people, probably including women and children. He was simply a stepping stone, the first man I would kill on a path to many.

Raising my wand, I did the same movements while muttering 'Casoplenta homo', hoping that the curse would work as I'd anticipated.

Screams echoed throughout the grand halls of Malfoy Manor, making me shudder at the thought of the pain the man in front of me must have felt as he burst into flame; but it didn't last long, within seconds he was dead and long gone.

I breathed a sigh of relief, not just because it had worked but because the hardest part was over, my first kill was done and now I knew I was capable; which meant that the Dark Lord would know I was capable.

All in all, I had to say it was a good day.

*~*~*~*

A week and a half before Christmas, the Malfoy family was called to attend to our guest; a meeting of sorts. Though I was fairly confident in my ability to create spells, enchantments and curses , a very small part of me was worried that I hadn't been found adequate enough for the Dark Lord and because of that my family would be jeopardized because of it.

"Amaryllis Potter, sister to the Boy Who Lived, came to me recently bearing gifts. She has a gift that many twice her age do not and I believe we can use her to our advantage with her close relationship to the other Potter and her unique ability to create new curses." The snake-like man began, his eyes hovering somewhere between me and Lucius Malfoy as if daring either of us to interrupt him.

I wasn't sure about my father but I knew there were no worries about me interrupting anything the man before me had to say.

"Tell me, Potter, if a man who could potentially greatly inconvenience you had suddenly become an invalid stuck at St. Mungos but recently had begun gaining his health back, what would you do?"

"I'd kill him," I spoke loudly and with as much conviction as I could muster, knowing this was just another test. One that I would pass with flying colours.

"How?"

"Well, it'd have to be discrete and a way that nobody could ever know it was I who had done it. A slow-acting trap of sorts would be best, as it would give me time to plant it and then leave so that the murder couldn't be pinned on me.." I paused for a few moments, thinking of the many things I could use to do just as I was describing.

"I'd clip a bit of Devil Snare and plant it in a pot decorated for Christmas, the nurses would be busy this time of year and wouldn't properly check it over and I would set an enchantment on him so that as soon as he was well enough to properly care for the plant, he'd touch it... it would strangle him and it could never be backtracked to me, as I would have come days ago."

I was proud of my answer, it was just about full proof except for one small detail.

"No enchantment like that exists, girl, so how would you manage that feat?" Another Death Eater sneered, his thoughts obviously stuck on the fact that I was not only a girl but a child as well, most of the people in this room would never get over that fact.

"I'd invent it, obviously, that's kind of my specialty."

"Good, then take care of that. I expect the enchantment to be in full working order within the week."

Blinking, I stared up at Voldemort as it sunk in to my head that I'd been accepted and he felt that I was useful enough to keep around. I grinned, nodding my head before he dismissed us and I fell in line with the rest of my beautiful, healthy, not-jeopardized family.