Vernon Dursley was a simple man. He loved his wife and his son very much. He loved their house, he loved his job and he loved their small normal life. He loved the quiet little part of Surrey they lived in. His life had been just perfect until the freak had shown up at their door. He'd just been promoted at Grunnings, and his beautiful wife had just given him his little boy. Of course, he was aware of Petunia's strange family. They'd met at the wedding. She had reassured him that they would never be a part of their life, and that had been that. When they had to look after the freak, things changed. Magic had entered their lives, and it was just wrong! It was natural, and decent folk like them shouldn't have had to deal with it. They'd sent the baby to the cupboard, out of sight and out of mind, as much as they could. When the boy was four, things started getting so much worse. His magic started growing. The house seemed to get so much darker when the boy was hurt or upset. As if the shadows themselves were growing. According to his wife, the same things had happened when Lily had been angry. That had set it in his mind. Magic was evil, and he could not allow it.
He'd forced the child to work, beating him almost daily. He refused to let the runt believe for one second that he was better than them. He'd walked in on the boy talking to himself quite often. It wasn't right, it wasn't natural goddamit! They deserved more! When the child had gone to that freaky school, he'd been relieved. For at least most of the year, he didn't have to deal with magic, and could pretend his life was back to normal. Just him, Petunia and Dudley. Then when the boy had disappeared a few weeks ago, he'd been so happy. They'd celebrated, going out to dinner, hoping that the little monster was finally dead! They'd been a happy family again, for the first time in fifteen years, not worrying about magic ruining their lives. That was until the boy came back. Vernon had never been more scared of that boy, than when those terrifying shadow creatures attacked. He was still having nightmares, none of them could really sleep. The boy said they wouldn't see him again, but what if those things came back? Vernon had been thinking all of this as he drove back home from work. He'd gotten another promotion at work, and should have been excited to go home to his loved ones and tell them the good news, but this dark feeling just wouldn't go away.
Sighing, he turned the corner into his street, before slamming his foot on the break at the sight before him. He hadn't even noticed the smoke rising up above the other houses. The entire street was engulfed in flames, bodies littered on the street. He got out of the car and ran to his house, falling to his knees when he found the body of his wife. He screamed, tears dripping down his reddened face, and he shouted his pain to the sky. It was then that he noticed the smoke was moving into a strange shape. He watched through watery eyes, before he realised it was a snake coming out if a skulls mouth. That wasn't normal, it was magic. He panicked, knowing the boy was behind this. "Dudley!" He stood, rummaging through the wreckage of his house, desperate that his son had survived. He searched and searched, but found nothing. Where had Dudley gone? "Dad!" He turned, relief flooding through him until he saw his son. He was writhing on the ground, bloody foam pouring from his mouth as a lady with untidy black hair stood over him, pointing her wand at him. Another was repeatedly shouting at Dudley, and each time he did, a loud crack of broken bone could be heard. "Dudley, no!" He went to run over and help his son, when a tall aristocratic looking man stepped in front of him. He had long blonde hair and wore white gloves, which held a slender, polished black wand. "My regards, from Mr Potter." That was the last thing Vernon heard, as a flash of green drowned his sight, and nothing was left but darkness and silence.
Harry walked into the Great Hall with Hermione, Ginny and Ron following behind him. He took a seat at the table and started to eat, ignoring the rest of the school. He couldn't wait for Hogsmeade weekend, when he could finally see Vol again! He had the rest of the week to find the horcrux, figure out who the spy was and make up an excuse to get away from the others on Saturday. "Harry?" He grunted, not looking up from his notebook. "Harry, mate, you need to see this." He looked up, and finally noticed how quiet the hall was. Everyone was looking at him, and he frowned before turning to Ron. "What's going on?" He didn't reply, simply looking at Hermione, who passed the Daily Prophet over to him. The headline stared up at him and his face went blank, unsure of how to react. He'd been pretty sure Voldemort was going to do this, but it was still surprising. "Harry, are you okay?" He looked up and saw Ginny leaning over, most of the Gryffindor table looking at him worried. Cherié, what do I do? The old man, master. Harry looked up to see Dumbledore watching him, a solemn expression on his face. The wizard stood, gesturing for Harry to follow and walked out of the hall. Ignoring the questions from the trio, he left, going up to Dumbledore's office.
Harry sat down opposite the ancient wizard, waiting for him to start talking first. "Now Harry, I understand you must be very upset about this. The dark have taken so much from you my boy, it's saddens me to see it." Harry struggled to stop himself from rolling his eyes. As if the old coot cared about Harry, and he knew that Harry did not care about the Dursleys. " This must be difficult for you, so I'll inform your teachers that you will not be attending today's classes. You need time to grieve. How are you feeling Harry?" He released a deep heavy sigh, resting his head in his hands as if upset. In truth, he was trying to hide the grin slowly spreading across his face. This was perfect! Now he had the day to find the horcrux! "Honestly, I'm not sure Professor. It's, it's just been a lot to take in at the moment." He looked up to see the headmaster nodding sagely, as if he completely understood what Harry was feeling. "It takes a while for us to understand our emotions, my boy. The heart is easily confused." Harry nodded, looking down at the desk. Cherié had informed him that the bastard was trying to use legilimency. In vain of course, Harry was protected from mind magic by his shadows, but he couldn't let Dumbledore know that. "There have been so many more attacks now sir, The Dursleys, Shacklebolt, S-sirius." His voice cracked a little at that, and Harry was surprised when he didn't feel any guilt over it. Was Cherié taking that for him, or did he just not care anymore? What did that say about him?" Dumbledore hummed, pulling Harry out from his troubling thoughts. "Yes, a tragic loss. We would have lost more if we hadn't been told about the attack on Diagon." This grabbed Harry's attention, and he used all his willpower to avoid giving it away. "You knew sir?"
Dumbledore nodded, looking down at Harry. "Yes, whilst we do seem to have unfortunately lost Severus, we have a young Auror willing to fill his position." Harry frowned, he'd need to tell Vol about that. "What happened to Snape?" Dumbledore gave him a slight look, before setting down his glasses. "Professor Snape did not return from his last mission. I fear the worst." Harry rolled his eyes, and he didn't even need to hide it. "Are you sure he hasn't just joined Voldemort. Did he know about the other spy!?" Harry sat up, pretending to be alarmed when he said that, hoping it was true. That would take the suspicion off of Harry when the Auror was killed. "You should have more faith in Severus, he would not betray us. And no, he was not aware of the spy. The only ones that knew were the Order and several other Aurors who also work for us." Harry nodded, sitting back relieved. He didn't have to fake it, when this spy went missing, no one would suspect Harry, not when other people knew. He nodded and looked around the office, pasting a weary expression on his face. "Okay headmaster." Dumbledore frowned slightly, and stood to place a time- withered hand on his shoulder. "You should go now my boy, rest. You need time to recover." Harry nodded and walked out of the office, grinning sadistically. This was going perfectly!
Draco followed Potter through the cold empty halls of Hogwarts. It was still difficult to believe that the golden boy was now on the Dark Side. His father hadn't explained everything, only that Potter was now working with them, and that Draco was supposed to keep an eye on him. Did the Dark Lord not trust Potter? He hurried up as Potter turned a corner, desperate not to lose him. He hadn't even been officially inducted into the Death Eaters yet, he could not screw this up! He turned the corner and cursed when Potter was no where to be found. It was a dead end, where had he gone? "Why are you following me?" Draco jumped, and turned to see Potter leaning against the wall behind him. "What are you playing at?" Potter shook his head and walked forward, looming over Draco slightly. There was a slight darkness to Potter, he felt more dangerous and he could start to see that he really was on their side. "I asked a question first. Why are you following me Malfoy? I don't have time for your petty arguements, I'm busy."
Draco bit his tongue at that, now wasn't the time to start an arguement with him. "My father said that you were on our side now." Potter laughed, and Draco frowned. Had he got it wrong? Scar-head looked around, as if checking that they were alone, before placing a silencing charm around them. "You should be more careful, what if I wasn't on your side? You would have just admitted that you were dark." Draco scowled and stepped back, uncomfortable at how close the Gryffindor was. "Shut up Potter, I'm under orders to keep and eye on you. Don't make this more difficult than it has to be!" The boy nodded and shrugged, cancelling the silencing charm and walking over to a large tapestry of a wizard teaching a troll how to dance. Ridiculous. "Fine, just don't get in my way." Potter walked past the wall a few times, silent before walking right through it. Perplexed, Draco tried to follow him but instead ran directly into the wall, bruising his nose. "Ow!"
Harry wandered through the tall piles of junk, hoping it wouldn't take too long to find the Diadem. He couldn't believe Vol had sent Draco Malfoy of all people to watch him. Did he not trust Harry anymore? He'd have to ask when they saw each other again. Just as he was about ready to give up and leave, he felt a faint tug at the Horcrux bond. Cherié? The black shadow solidified and walked passed Harry, through a small pile of boxes. This way master. Harry followed him until he found a cabinet with a small box inside. It was charmed with locking spells, easily removed in parceltongue. He lifted the small box, the initials TMR engraved on the leather strap. He opened the box and found it. The diadem. It was a beautiful silver colour, untarnished by time. The centre was a beautiful opal held by a glass raven. He closed the box and pushed it through a shadow, holding it there until he could return it to Vol. It was probably safer in the shadow realm than anywhere. He looked around, in case there was anything he missed, and seeing nothing left the room. He walked back out through the door and burst in peals of laughter upon seeing the large bruise on Malfoys face. "Shut up Potter," Malfoy muttered, before turning on his heel and leaving.