Black Plague

Chapter 27

I walked to the book store after entering London and gathered all the books on Snape's list. And bought any other books the book keeper suggested. Unfortunately, I still had a number of books from last year to read
But I would have plenty of time to work my way through them. I had to remind myself that I bought more books than ever last year. And it wasn't because of laziness that I still had more books to read. He suggested some books in curse breaking and how to detect curses on objects, which looked interesting. He also suggested books on spell crafting which I could find very useful. Most of his books were more light or gray magic. They never really were overtly dark. But Snape's had been getting more dark. I think he had already suggested most of the great light magic books he knew and was now moving on to more advanced dark magic. Yes. He had suggested some curses, hexes and jinx books before. But they had been pretty gray and neutral. And last year they had gotten a bit darker gray. Seeing as he did suggested a couple books about blood curses. But this year they were unquestioningly dark. In fact, the store didn't even have some of them. I would have to check out the rest of the books in Knockturn Alley. Yes, they were that dark. Not all of them mind you. Some were very advanced light magic. But he never distinguished between dark and light in his suggestions. It was all about power and difficulty. That is all he focused on when suggesting books to read. Well, and usefulness. If it was hard to make a garden statue he still wouldn't suggest it, because it had no real practicality. So the bookstore owner seemed taken aback that me, Harry Potter, would dabble in such things. I just smiled and bought everything I wanted. Then, I headed to the bookstore nestled in the dark alley around the corner. I had a couple people try to harass me, but inevitably someone would recognize me and force everyone to back off. I just raised my eyebrow at them and casually held on to my wand. I wasn't looking for a fight, but I wouldn't back down either. If I could beat Voldemort occasionally, I could destroy these people.
One tall, scrawny man wouldn't leave me alone though. He had snaggely teeth and rancid breath. His close there filthy and hung off him. I might have felt bad for him, if it wasn't for the crazed eyes and predatory smile. I raise an eyebrow at him, daring him to come after me. When he went to grab me I spun out of the way and raised my wand. Not feeling any fear. I had trained for this. "Nah ah little boy, you can't use that. You're out of school", he reprimanded lightly. I smirked at him. "Really? Because this wand doesn't have a trace. I can use it as much as I like." Everyone else backed off not wanting to get involved. "Oh, your a naughty boy. Someone should set you straight." I laughed and shook my head. Careful to never let my eyes leave him. He pulled his wand out and tried to shoot a incarceration spell at me. I blocked it easily and shot a number of slicing and blasting curses. Not wanting to hurt him too bad if I didn't have to. I didn't need those rumors getting around. He staggered back and tried again. I ducked out of the way and sent darker spells at him. He was terrible at blocking and dodging. I wanted to roll my eyes at him. He didn't have a clue how bad he fucked up. He hit me with a weak cutting curse, slicing my shoulder. Now that pissed me off. I began pummeling him with one nasty curse after another. Not giving him a moment to breath, or think, or recover. I just slammed him with curse, after curse, after curse. He was nearly unconscious when I saw Wormtail walk up. I pulled back. "Hades what going on." I sighed. "This guy tried to attack me. I think the idiot thought I was easy prey" I rolled my eyes.  Wormtail laughed. Doubled over in his amusement. "Looks like he picked the wrong victim. You will be nobodies prey." I smirked. "Damn right. Others even tried to warn him away from me, but you know how arrogant some assholes can be. All they see is a child." I rolled my eyes.
"You'll find that happens a lot. People look at the outside and never consider if that truly represent the person they are." I nodded and he walked with me into the store I had been heading to.

I have actually grown kind of fond of Wormtail. He's a pretty decent guy. Some might say he's a coward for supporting Voldemort. But I call that self preservation. When you see who the most powerful wizard is, you stay on there side. No need to die. Especially when both sides were corrupt as shit. Wormtail, like myself, had tried to point out to his friends how Dumbles was manipulating and controlling them. He tried to show them that Dumbles wasn't a saint. But they were too stupid to listen. I don't love that he betrayed everyone and got me almost killed, but at the same time, I'm not sure I blame him. War is ugly sometime. And you have to do he heinous things on occasion. He is a sweet man. Ugly, but sweet. And he has been thriving under this new form of rule. He has improved leaps and bounds with the dueling and training. He seems to be studying and learning more spells at an impressive rate. He's a smart man. That's apparent. And he soaks up knowledge like a sponge. He will never be brave. He would probably turn on us, if ever captured. Which isn't great. How he wound up in gryffindor I'll never know. But he's proven to be a asset none the less. And he makes a remarkable spy. Even better than Snape. Because people will never fully trust Snape. Snape's surly and has a dark aura. But Wormtail is small and can squeeze into almost any small nich and find out anything. Even knowing about Wormtail, the Order of Sheep never notices as he scurries around the headquarters and learns everything they are planning and doing.

After arriving at the store, I grab what I need and turn to the owner. "Do you have any suggestions for me? Something as advanced as these here." I book keeper looks over the pile of books and then he wanders the store grabbing some more. I smiled when I saw the titles of some of them. These were straight up black magic. No question. And I looked forward to delving into these. I quite liked dark magic. I wouldn't say I was addicted to the rush. But I found it calming. And it made me feel warm inside. I was drawn to dark magic, like a moth to flames. It called to me. I looked up when Wormtail added a couple books too. "I found these books rather helpful." He sputtered shyly. I smiled and thanked him. After buying all my books I took Wormtail to the wand store. "Wormtail, I want to buy you a new wand. I know the one you use isn't yours and it doesn't seem to work for you very well. Consider it your treat for helping me today." I smiled at him. He sputtered and tried to refuse but I just raised an eyebrow at him. The cowardly man nodded frantically in agreement and began picking out the elements to his wand.
He instantly gravitated to the larch wood.
"Ah larch wood. So you're understated and have hidden talents in magic. Interesting." The lady commented as she grabbed the wood. Wormtail gave her an uncertain smile, then his hand hovered over some Acromantulas silk. The woman seemed hesitant. "Is there any other core you might like. This is highly illegal as a core for is strength in dark magic. I can add a small amount of it, so it's not noticed if confiscated."
Wormtail felt the other options and picked dragon heartstring. Then he had to chose a gem. He instantly picked tiger eye. Saying it made him feel brave. And he liked that feeling. I smiled and paid for the wand.
"I hope this will help you be the great Wizard I know you can be." I said politely to Wormtail. He blushed and nodded frantically.
"I expect great things from you." I added. In some ways he remind me of Draco. He needed someone to build him up and encourage him. He had no self motivation or self esteem. He needed someone else to see it, and draw it out of him. But given the opportunity, he could be a decent Wizard. Never great maybe. But good. And I was determined to push him to be the best he could be. I suspected that he'd never had anyone see his potential before and he hesitantly glowed at the praise. He would remain doubtful, but always push for it anyway. I believe as he sees his continued success he will become more confident and become even quicker to meet expectations and please Voldemort and I.
I patted his back and gave him a farewell before apparating close to home.

The summer went off to a good start. I was flying through my new books. It helped that I wasn't having to focus half my energy on becoming a Animagus, nor learn Wordless, nor Wandless magic. I just practiced those after I mastered a spell. It took only a few extra minutes. I could focus all my time just learning and practicing everything in my new books. I transfigured a scrap of paper into a practice dummy. Something I should have done years ago. And around 10 o'clock each night I shifted into my black panther form and prowled the streets, watching what was happening around me. My sleek black body invisible against the night sky. I found it interesting. I always had random wizards watching my house. Whether they were watching me or trying to protect me was up for debate. I recognized Lupin and Black. But the others were completely strangers. This was probably the Order of Sheep. It appeared as though they watched my house day and night. I would sit in a tree just scanning the thoughts and memories in their head. It appeared as though none of them knew why they were there either. The just followed orders like the sheep they all were. They blindly believed that Longbottom was the new hero.
On Friday night I saw that Snape was standing guard. I slowly stalked over to him. Making sure he didn't see me as a threat and lay down next to him.
He sighed and sat down next to me, softly stroking my head. I purred happily, then promptly slipped into a light sleep.
I listened to him rant quietly as I half dozed. "I swear Hadrian, you're going to be the death of me. You could have at least warned me that you were an Animagus." I licked his fingers in way of apology. Oops, had I forgotten to mention that to him? He woke me up a few hours later as he shifted his stiff body. "So I take it you've been watching us watch you?" I chuffed quietly and nodded. "Does anyone know why we're watching you?" I yawned and shook my head. "Figures. Fools the lot of them." He grumbled unhappily. My giggle came out as a purr and I licked his fingers again. Trying to ease his unhappiness.