Chapter One

"Master!...p-p-please Master! I beg of you, I withhold no more from you! You know everything!" cried the lump of a man, now nearly on the verge of tears.

Seconds later Voldemort lazily flicked his wand and muttered "Crucio."

The man fell from his knees to the floor, wildly withering and shrieking in unimaginable pain. His foot was incoherently stomping the floor, begging for his master to release the curse. "My patience is wearing thin with you Wormtail, I will not tolerate anymore of your liessss. You will give me the boy's location now or you will continue to suffer the consequences," Voldemort stated in a rather nonchalant fashion, more amused by the his follower's scenario than frustrated. He knew that he would get the information he needed in the end.

After a few more moments of the cruciatus the curse was lifted and Wormtail - now in the fetal position - shakily muttered "B-But my Lord...m-my friends... my frien..."

"Crucio!"

The man rolled over and continued to cry in agony before he could continue his sentence. Rudolphus Lestrange had to withhold his wife, Bellatrix, from marching over to the whaling man and kicking him in the ribs for daring to deny her Master until Voldemort finally lifted the curse and bellowed "Enough Wormtail!... It is time you decide your loyalties. Shall it be your 'friends,' or your Lord? Your incompetence aside, you have been given far too long to make up your mind. I dare say, choose wisely my sniveling rat!"

Pettigrew, now out of breath and clutching his gut on the floor, gasped "G..G..Grodrics Hollow... m..my lord...G-Godrics H-H-Hollow."

Voldemort smirked maliciously at the man curled in front of his feet. "Very well Wormtail... Very well. You may be useful yet...yes. Yaxley! Return the oaf to the dungeons. Lucius! Bella!...Dolohov, come with me. We have much to discuss," Voldemort ordered as he rose from his ornate throne and began to stride towards the large oak doors leading to a conference room, his robes billowing behind while the others in the inner circle looked quite disappointed that their Master had not chosen them for the mission.

October 31, 1981

It was 10 p.m on Halloween as Bellatrix, Lucius, Dolohov, and Lord Voldemort apparated outside the Potter's hideout under a disillusionment charm. The Potter's hideout was a sizable white stone cottage at the end of Godric Hollow's main street with a canopy of walnut trees along the road leading to the house. As Lord Voldemort began hissing a series of incantations in parseltounge while waving his wand in precise motions to break the secondary wards set by Dumbledore, they could see the Potter child through the window zooming around on a toy broom chasing a stream of smoke Sirius shot from his wand - all while Lily was apparently busy reprimanding Sirius for letting the child fly inside.

James had died soon after Lily became pregnant with Harry in a battle at the Ministry of Magic while trying to save two of his companions, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-eye Moody. James was able to duel Voldemort while Kingsley and Mad-eye recovered and retrieved their wands. However, as powerful and talented of a wizard as James was during his time, the Dark Lord soon over-matched him and killed him with a curse causing his insides to rupture before his friends could return to the fight. James Potter, known by all as one of the leaders of the Light, was mourned after for weeks following the battle.

While Sirius and Lily had dated before Lily's engagement to James, there was no true romanticism between the two and both of them understood this perfectly well. Nonetheless, shortly after Harry's birth Sirius proved to love the child as if he were his own flesh and blood. Sirius viewed Harry as his last connection to James Potter, his best friend of nearly two decades, someone who had fought and sacrificed beside him in battle, and a fellow companion that had a fierce belief in their cause. The man was no less than a brother to Sirius, and in believing that James would have wanted Harry to have a loving father growing up, both Lily and Sirius agreed on a marriage arrangement for the sake of the child. Furthermore, something only known by Pettigrew and two other death eaters, was that Sirius was so intent on making Harry his own after the boy's birth that he decided to undergo an obscure and ancient Swedish blood adoption ritual (named the Orbus Cruor Ritus) used in the Medieval era. Pettigrew only knew because it was required that another individual preform the ritual in order for the blood bonding to work. Sirius was apprehensive in regards to informing Remus because he knew that his friend wouldn't approve. As a result, Bellatrix and Lucius became aware of this when Pettigrew decided to reveal the information to the Dark Lord in their presence.

While the ritual was quite obscure even in its own time, it was banned centuries ago due to its high rates of abnormalities and frequent deaths. Only ancient and select pureblood families knew about the ritual anymore. However, when in the rare cases that a select pureblood family went through an adoption, this was the most often used method of blood transfer.

Many purebloods believe the Orbus Cruor Ritus to be the only true way of making a child one's own. After all, little else matters to pureblood families other than blood and this particular ritual was the most complete type of blood adoption available. The results of the transfer gave the child roughly one-third of the parent's blood. Ultimately, the transfer endowed the child with a portion of the parent's traits, magical and non-magical. Sirius, although holding different convictions than most of his pureblood relatives, still held some of the basic deep seated beliefs instilled in him as a child by his pureblood upbringing. In the end, while Sirius was indeed satisfied with his title as 'Godfather' before James' death, his firm and long held belief that one must share his family's blood to be called his own overruled his conscience and drove him to make the decision. After the successful ritual (a relief for Sirius), he told himself that he would reveal the information to Lily when the right time came. No noticeable changes would take place for years.

As Sirius and Lily were about to get Harry ready for bed, they felt a rumbling vibration through the air and a loud crack. Instantly, Sirius turned around and began to look outside to see what caused the commotion. He began to perceive the dark shadowy figures that grew clearer in the lawn as they approached the front door along with one deathly, maddening, yet feminine cackle that could only belong to Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Lily! Lily, they're here! They're here!" Sirius began to shout hoarsely. Seconds later Lily came rushing into the room with Harry tightly clutched in her arms as he turned to the windows again to see how much time they had left, noticing that the shadow figures were not more than twenty yards from the entrance. Lily was about to ask Sirius what was going on when he quickly interrupted and shouted, "Listen! We have no time! Get your broom and get Harry out of here NOW! I'll hold them off as long as I can! GO!"

"M-My broo-" she stopped. It dawned on her immediately. Voldemort had found them. The commotion was caused by the destruction of their protective wards, and obviously the enactment of new ones (anti-apparation, portkey, and floo wards of course). The Dark Lord wouldn't give them an easy escape and she knew that he could only be seconds away from the entrance. Her mind stopped racing at once and she knew what she had to do. Her eyes were now full of unshed tears and she trembled, "I'll never forget you Sirius," before she raced around the furnishings to the granite staircase as the front door burst open.

A commanding figure cloaked in black from head to toe stood in the doorway with a slight smirk on his face. "Ah... Black. How noble of you to be the first to go, only befitting for a blood-traitor of course," Voldemort drawled. "Have you seen your 'son,' Black? He and I have urgent business to attend to at once you see..."

"You will not take a step near my son! You are an abomination to Wizards!" Sirius roared.

Voldemort only chuckled at the man's sentiments. "I do wish I could stay and play for a while Black, but your son and I actually have a rather important...meeting together right about now. Surely you can understand," Voldemort said as he began to casually draw nearer to the staircase that Sirius was guarding. Sirius raised his wand to shout a curse, but before he could even began to mouth the words Voldemort hissed, "fides mortifer sssserpensss" in parseltounge and flicked his wand near Sirius's boots as he continued towards the staircase.

Sirius, not expecting an attack at his feet couldn't react in time. The curse hit me as he looked down at his feet that were now beginning to tremble. It felt as if the threads holding his boots together transformed into tubes full of pumping water that he could feel rush against the sides of his shins. Sirius had thought the curse had failed at first as he could only feel a tingling sensation throughout his feet and along his shins. He was about to attack again when the sides of his boots exploded and four very thin magical vine snakes with large fangs and crimson eyes shot upwards from where the threads of his boots once were and quickly wrapped themselves around Sirius, binding him tightly and rendering him unable to move. The last snake finished wrapping itself around Sirius's shoulders in a matter of seconds as he fell to the floor unable to maintain balance. It quickly shot upwards near eye level with him before digging its fangs into the left side of his neck in the blink of an eye. Sirius head shot backwards and choked as blood began to pour profusely from the wound along with jet black venom. He desperately attempted to move his hand forward to cover the gushing wound but it was useless, he was completely bound and convulsing uncontrollably on the floor as he started to drool at the mouth.

Voldemort carelessly stepped over the man and glided up the stairs as his death-eaters followed behind closely. Bellatrix, however, cast a cruciatus and stepped on one of the few body parts left uncovered by the thin serpents- his crotch- to watch her blood-traitor cousin moan and gurgle in excruciating pain before follower her Master up the stairs. Bellatrix was just the type of follower Lord Voldemort preferred...blood thirsty, power hungry, loyal and obedient without question. Sure, she was a tad insane if not entirely, but as far as Lord Voldemort was concerned she was a valuable asset to their cause.

Voldemort had already made his way down to the last room of the long hallway where he had heard a window opening. He quickly burst through the door and saw Harry on top of a flat Mahogany dresser as Lily fervently dashed over with broom in hand to guard her child from the cloaked man and the death-eaters that followed in from behind.

"Move girl," Voldemort hissed. " I am here only for the boy, your miserable life has been spared."

"W-What? No...No, not Harry! Please, not Harry! Take me! Take me instead!" Lily said as she become hysterical.

"Step aside you silly girl!

"No, N-No not Harry! Please! Ple"

"Step aside!"

"Not Harr-"

Knowing he had no more time to spare as the aurors were surely on their way, Voldemort hissed "Avada Kedavra!" and Lily's body fell to the floor in a motionless state as her burgundy red hair elegantly covered the floorboards.

Voldemort then stepped further into the dim room towards the boy. Harry, amazingly, seemed more curious than anything. He was not quite sure what had just happened. Was his mother and the man playing a game? What had happened to her? He knew he had never seen such a green flash emitted from a wand before, nor had he ever seen someone drop to the floor so suddenly and so... lifelessly. But surely his mother wasn't gone! She had always protected him and would always be there for him. The young two year old mind simply couldn't wrap itself around what had happened moments before.

Voldemort, now only a couple feet away from the boy, paused for a moment. He looked inquiringly into his bright emerald eyes and could see something unnatural. It was almost as if they were glowing. But there was something else unusual about the boy that Voldemort could perceive as well. From the moment Voldemort had entered the room, Harry's presence was felt. His magical aura was one he had never experienced before. A cold prickling sensation erupted throughout Voldemort's body as he approached him. His presence was completely overtaken by the boy's aura. A pity such a unique power had to be wasted the Dark Lord thought to himself, but the prophecy did indeed indicate that he would be a threat...This was the surest way.

Without a further moments hesitation, Voldemort lift his wand, placed it inches from Harry's forehead and said in the sweetest possible voice he could muster "It's time you join your parents now Harry...Avada Kedavra!"

The moment the curse left his wand a puzzled and frightened look overcame the Dark Lord as he had only a fraction of a second to escape the rebounding curse. It was too late though, Voldemort was entirely unprepared to dodge his own killing curse and had barely moved a foot before the curse came careening towards his chest. The moment the green light hit him the Dark Lord flew backwards onto the ground with a force and lied entirely still, his chest unmoving, his arms and legs sprawled, and his eyes rolled back.

There was about a full minute of silence before anyone broke out of their shock. No one was entirely sure if they could believe what had just happened. But there he was, the Dark Lord lying on the floor motionless and dead. Lucius looked as if he had just been slapped by a muggle, with utter disbelief written across his face. Bellatrix looked terrified, not even able to breathe. Her entire life's work, the advancement of the Dark wizarding agenda under the guidance of her Lord, had instantly been crushed and taken from her before here eyes. She rushed over to the fallen Dark Lord and fell on her knees and mourned as if she had just lost a lover, seemingly not able to accept the tragic turn of events... waiting for her Lord to awake. Dolohov, however, seemed to promptly understand the situation at hand after about thirty seconds of disbelief and clutched the crib he was standing next to and began to think frantically. Then there was the boy, the boy-who-lived, crying and grasping at his forehead as a gentle stream of blood came trickling down his face.

Lucius, who snapped out of his trance, thought about the present scenario ever so carefully before deciding to making a move. Like Bella, he was devoted to the Dark's cause and believed the Dark Lord to be indispensable in the war. His death was clearly a tragedy and a turning point but Lucius never acted upon impulse, instead he looked for the opportunites in any situation at hand. For Lucius, though devastated that such an asset for the Dark had fallen, the opportunity before him was becoming vaguely clear to him. The boy, the prophecy, had just defeated one of the greatest Dark Lords of all time. Could he be that powerful? Was it possible? He regarded the boy as a mystery for the moment and decided not to do anything rash. He took a couple steps forward and allowed the commanding thumps of his boots to call attention to himself before he trembled in a quiet yet grave tone,

"May our Lord's spirit live on... and let his soul rest in ever lasting peace."

Lucius then bowed his head deep waiting for his fellow death-eaters to follow. Bella began sobbing and rest her head on her Master's chest in final acceptance while Dolohov nodded his head in respect, the wheels in his mind evidently still turning. He was still busy comprehending the death of his master and its consequences. Was he safe? What was he supposed to do? He had been entirely dependent and followed orders for the last decade of his life, both out of fear and self interest. He wanted everything to remain the same as long as possible, or at least until he secured his safety and a more advanced station in life. He wouldn't be able to pursue his interests any longer without the Dark Lord's protection, or at least without his perceived protection - and he certainly wasn't safe without it considering his record.

Dolohov cared more for the advancement of his own personal self interests than the Dark's agenda, as was the case for a good handful of death-eaters. Lord Voldemort's intimidation and protection allowed Dolohov and others avenues to success that had previously been unattainable by them, but now with Voldemort's death, these avenues would be closed. Laws could not simply be disregarded and past crimes would have consequences.

Lucius, seeing that he wasn't about to be interrupted, continued in a rushed tone now, "We don't have much time, Flamel and the aurors will be here any minute, probably with old goat too. We have to act now..." he turned to the boy who had stopped crying and was now examining his lifeless mother and said, "Obviously, it seems we have a rather...mysterious individual on our hands. We shall take him with us and discuss what will become of him later. Bella, it's time-"

He was cut off by a trembling Dolohov who looked like he had just been assaulted by Lucius's sudden plan. "T-Take him with us! Are you mad! Why in Merlin's name would we take the boy with us? The boy's supposed to be dead! We'll have all of wizarding England looking for us! I say we kill the boy and get out of here with our Lord's...b-b-body," Dolohov stammered before quickly finishing "before anyone notices something went wrong! If they know our Lord has fallen we're done for! Finished! The aurors will be raiding our homes within days!"

Lucius stepped closer towards Harry with a vicious smirk on his face that told Dolohov he knew something the rest weren't aware of. Lucius had planned on a protest, knowing both Dolohov and Bellatrix would disagree - though Bellatrix was still in a state of shock. Dolohov looked at him with bewilderment as Lucius began to speak again in a cold, monotone voice and explained to Dolohov his suspicions about the boy in regards to the prophecy.

Although he wasn't entirely sure where he was taking his explanation, the cunning Malfoy had other plans in mind as he quickly tried to quell Anthony's fears. Harry continued to examine his mother. He looked over at the recently fallen Dark Lord and noticed Bellatrix weeping over the dead body. He then looked back over at his mother, who had still not moved since falling to the ground. Harry began to understand the intentions of the people around him as best he could for a two year-old. These people had hurt him and his mother was now on the floor, still and completely unmoving. Harry thought to himself incoherently in his young mind, 'The man who the woman is crying over just got hit by the same green light as my mum!'

He had already slid off the mahogany drawer and was now pulling his mothers hand and trying to get her off the ground, but the arm simply fell back down to the ground on her side completely still. The boy tried again and again but could only stare when he realized his mother wasn't getting up. He fell to the ground on his knees beside his mother, hardly understanding what was going on around him. All he knew was that his mum, like the man next to her with the mourning woman, was gone. He could feel her body lose its warmth and began to bawl uncontrollably, the magnitude of the situation now dawning on him. His mother would never move again. His young mind simply couldn't fathom it.

Harry quickly turned his head to the dead man lying next to the weeping woman. Harry couldn't speak full sentences nor entirely process the information before him at such a young age, but he could feel the rage and anger build inside of him and his yearning to set it free. He could see the memories of what had just happened replay in his mind repeatedly as he stared at his mother. The flash of green light, the last voice he'd ever hear from his mother - a scream with Harry's name- and a thud on the floor. 'It was this mans fault' Harry thought to himself, "He hurt me and he did this to my mum!'

The inability to fully comprehend the loss of his mother and the rage building inside of him for the man responsible was too much for the boy's young mind to take. He had never felt the type of fury building in his veins nor the tingling sensation emitted from his gut and radiating throughout his entire body, resting and concentrating the sensation in his hands and fingertips. He had lost almost complete control of his mind and a euphoria of fury had taken over. Tiny white swirls began to form in his pupils and his skin began to glow a slight golden hue. Without thinking of what he was doing, Harry had let his emotions take complete control. He felt as if his rage was concentrated in the tingling sensation he felt radiating throughout his body and attempted to force the sensation into his hands, the only place he felt like it could exit. He wanted to release what it was he was feeling and scream in rage.

He tensed his body and tried to release the tingling sensation through his hands but he couldn't control it. Instead, the sensation had erupted inside of him and he felt a boiling sensation in his blood and a white flash of anger and hatred in his mind. The stone cottage shook slightly and the room they were standing in exploded in a blazing white flame that was burning through everything in its path- at a much faster rate than any ordinary fire would. As the white flames consumed everything in it's path, everyone in the room stopped and looked back around at the boy. He had tiny white pools swirling in his pupils with a golden hue surrounding his skin, and his black raven hair was blown to the side from the gust coming through the open window. The boy looked oblivious to his surroundings and entirely taken over by rage. His eyes were glazed over and directed at the fallen Dark Lord with a deathly expression in them.

Lucius's jaw dropped and was now completely immersed in curiosity, for a moment he was just as oblivious to his surroundings as Harry. Bella only stared at the boy as she desperately tried to understand what was happening, looking back and forth between Harry and the her fallen Master. Just as Lucius turned his back to Harry once again and discreetly placed his wand on his forehead, muttering a spell to put him in a trance, Dolohov roared "Aurors! They're here!"

Bellatrix quickly got to her feet and viewed from the window. She could see Flamel waving his want in an intricate fashion attempting to break the new wards set by Voldemort. Her mind reluctantly leaving the thoughts of her fallen Master and now trying to create a plan of escape. Lucius was ahead of both of them. He was facing Dolohov but still hadn't taken his wand from Harry's forehead, who was still behind Lucius and in front of his mother. The tip of Lucius's wand was now glowing a bright light blue. Dolohov and Lucius merely stared at each other with an intense gaze as the room around them began to crumble.

Noticing the two dunderheads doing nothing to but staring at one another, Bellatrix screeched, "You FOOLS! The AURORS ARE HERE! The wards will be down any second! We must leave NOW!" She rushed back over to Voldemort's body to retrieve the portkey he made for their exit.

Lucius, however, just continued to stare at Dolohov as a piece of burning plaster fell onto Voldemort's body, forcing Bella to jump backwards.

Finally, Lucius broke the gaze and decided to act. While Harry had been building up his incoherent rage, Lucius was discussing his plans for the boy with Dolohov. However, he acted as if he were slowly coming around to Dolohov and agreeing with his plan. He wanted to catch the man off guard.

"Perhaps you a right Anthony. Leaving the Potter boy dead with no traces of our Lord's...demise," Lucius spat out coldly "seems to be the soundest plan. The presence of our Lord does indeed extend us necessary protections and if anyone were to find out of his fall, many of us would be on the run. I do not doubt that." Lucius paused before continuing over the crackling of white flames that had now consumed half of the room. "But the boy is of far too much interest at the present moment. I believe... we'll have to pursue both plans Anthony. I'm truly sorry it has to be this way my friend."

Dolohov stared at Lucius, bewildered. Did he hear Lucius say both plans? Moreover, did he just hear Lucius apologize? Impossible! But before the man could say a word Lucius had taken his wand from behind his back and from Harry's forehead, pointed it at the man and yelled "Ingemino!"

The curse had hit Dolohov before he knew what had happened. Immediately, his body began to shrink and transform as his face morphed before Lucius's eyes. After several painful seconds, he resembled a replica of two year old Harry Potter. It was Harry's doppelganger.

Dolohov, wide eyed and now realizing Lucius's intentions tried to find his wand that he had dropped during his transformation but fell to the floor seconds later. Lucius's killing curse had hit him square on the chest. Bellatrix only glared with her jaw dropped, but didn't dare to interfere. Lucius took Harry's doppelganger and put the body in Harry's crib. He then took Harry's hand, who was still in the trance Lucius put him under, and snarled at Bellatrix, "The portkey Bella! NOW! We have no time to discuss!"

Knowing that the room would be in ashes soon and that Flamel was close to bringing down the wards, she wasted no more time and did as she was ordered. She was still in shock by all that she had seen that night and was only able to stumble towards Lucius and Harry as she made her way towards them on the only un-burnt path left. In an instant she held out her hand with the portkey, a golden stopwatch. Lucius took Harry's hand as well as their fallen Lord on the ground next to them as they grabbed the portkey. Once they had all had a hand on the stopwatch, Bella muttered, "Riddle Manor."