Harry Potter And The Breeding Darkness

Chapter 3

The morning progressed just like any other morning. Workout for a little more than an hour. Showers, breakfast, thirty minutes of Arithmancy review, and then a group of Death Eaters arrived for a meeting. This was where things diverged for the first time. Instead of Harry being sent off to entertain himself, Tom had him attend the meeting as well, in his 'Evan Harris' persona, of course. None of it specifically pertained to Harry, but Tom said he wanted Harry to start getting acquainted with the Death Eaters and become more familiar with Tom's plans and how his organization ran.

Harry certainly had no qualms with any of this, and took a seat in the conference room to Tom's right. It was another group gathering. This time all of those who had been called were influential high society pure-bloods with political power or seats in the Wizengamot. Tom had apparently already personally debriefed everyone who came, and now was a planning and assignment session.

It was slightly boring, but mostly because Harry simply had no idea what most of the things they were talking about were or what they meant. But he tried to stay focused and absorb as many details as he could manage. He also took notes for Tom when directed.

Throughout the morning Harry had had the strangest feeling in the back of his head, but he hadn't really paid it much attention. It was almost like an echo, and at times it almost felt like the times he was in classes back at Hogwarts and his companion had entered his mind . The feeling made him suddenly realize that he hadn't entered his mindscape in nearly two weeks, and that his companion was almost constantly absent from his conscious mind. He actually felt a bit guilty about this - feeling like he was neglecting the bit of Tom's soul inside him, when it had helped him out so much for so long. Harry realized that he had let himself get distracted by his ponderings when Voldemort instructed him to record something in his notes and he quickly refocused on the meeting.

To say that the high-society Death Eaters present at the meeting did not appear pleased with 'Evan's' presence would be an understatement. But they were also cowed enough by Voldemort's glares to try and hide some of their disdain.

When the meeting came to an end, the Death Eaters were dismissed from the manor and Harry, still wearing his glamor ring, of course, and Voldemort sat for a late lunch while Voldemort explained several things from the meeting that Harry hadn't entirely understood.

It was just as they were finishing up their meal that Mixey appeared with the first batch of letters from Harry's post box in France. Harry went a bit wide-eyed at the number of letters, but set them aside so he could finish his meal.

Tom had another meeting scheduled for later that afternoon, and once again, wanted Harry to attend, but they had two hours until then. Voldemort suggested that the two of them skip the dueling training for that day and retire to the study so he could finish up some preparations for the coming meeting, and so Harry could go through his mail.

Once in the study, Voldemort reverted back to Tom, but cast a locking ward on the door. Not that any Death Eater who entered the manor would have the gall to enter Voldemort's personal study without knocking first, but Tom was never one to deny his own strong sense of paranoia.

He sat down in the chair behind his desk and quickly set to going through the notes that Harry had taken, as well as making a number of notes of his own and opening up a planning book that Harry had often seen him writing in. Harry slipped down into his usual place beside Tom's chair and began to sort through his letters.

There was one that was addressed to just 'Harry Potter' in Albus Dumbledore's long, slanting, loopy scrawl. Harry scowled at it and moved it to the bottom of the pile. There were three separate letters from the Weasleys. One from Ron, one from Ginny, and one from the twins. They were all addressed to his post box address, so obviously Ron had shared it with his siblings.