Filthy Purebloods | ʳᵉᵍᵘˡᵘˢ ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ

Loyalty

The room was icy and dim. Very little light shone through the tall windows despite it being early and the people seated around the long wooden table mimicked the day's mood, not daring to speak. Save for a few - Bellatrix couldn't seem to help but voice how ecstatic she was to be present.

She cackled loudly and Sidra felt more on edge at the sound. The only thing keeping her rooted to her seat was the soft press of Regulus's hand on her leg. She feared that without him she would have lost every ounce of sanity she possessed.

Many of the people present were familiar to her. Lucius Malfoy who had just finished his last year of Hogwarts sat near the end, Narcissa Black, Avery, Rosier and unsurprisingly, Severus Snape. She grimaced at him, recalling how he had treated Marina and wondering when he had changed from the awkward loser to a muggle-hating suckup. Several other familiar faces sat around the table.

Nobody looked entirely happy to be there, but there was an undeniable air of eager anticipation.

She felt sick thinking of the bloodlust in every one of their hearts. They reminded her of Regulus's parents. Of her parents. She had not been able to rid the image of her father suggesting torture from her mind. Had he always been so cruel? She could hardly look at him anymore.

The room went cold and still, as the large doors shot open and a hideous figure walked in.

His skin was so pale that it took on a greyish tint. As he strode forward and looked over his followers, Sidra caught sight of his soulless eyes, paired with a terribly disfigured nose. He was terrible to behold. Hairless and gaunt and frightening. He sat at the head of the table.

"My recruits." He said in a smooth slur. The softness of his voice contrasted with his harsh appearance greatly.

Sidra had been so focused on the Dark Lord that she had entirely missed the black shape shadowing him - a snake almost as long as the table now coiled at his side. Sidra didn't like the way the creature looked everyone over as if contemplating which to have for dinner.

"I am Lord Voldemort." He introduced himself. "And with everyone present here today, I share the desire for a purely magical world not sullied with the likes of them." He spat the last word and his cool demeanour vanished as he raised his wand.

The doors shot open once more and in floated the bloodied body of a boy no older than Sidra. Voldemort pulled the unconscious boy forward with a tug of his wand and dropped him onto the table for all to see.

Regulus's grip tightened on her leg at the thud it made. Sidra struggled to stare at the boy. Up close she could see dark red smears along his face and blood still wet in his hair. His clothes were torn and stained and his face... Sidra held back bile but couldn't quite keep in the tears. A single one slipped down her cheek that she hoped went by unnoticed.

"Mudbloods." The word dripped like venom off Voldemort's tongue as he stood and began to move around the table. "A scourge to the magical world. An insult to life itself." His light footsteps echoed off the walls. "This boy didn't need to meet this fate." Voldemort tutted. "And few more do if we can purge them from our world. I can not do it alone."

He looked around the table and Bellatrix stood. "I would be honoured to kill them all. For you."

"I am sure you would be, Bella." He smiled a hideous toothy grin. "I am sure you all lust for their blood, just a little. For revenge that is well-deserved after the witch hunts!"

The table came alive as many shouted their agreement.

He moved swiftly around the table and began his way up the side Sidra sat on.

"You all will prove useful, I can tell. But usefulness is not enough. I need loyalty, allegiance... willingness." He paused between Sidra and Regulus and leaned down. "I need each of you to kill a muggle."

She froze as the words left his mouth.

"Can you do that for me?" He whispered and despite herself, she nodded, hoping he missed the quiver of her bottom lip.

He smiled again and moved on from where she sat back to his seat. The snake twisted around his chair and onto the table, slithering slowly towards the boy who was barely alive. "Nagini." He commanded and the beast swallowed the boy in a single thrust.

Sidra sucked in a breath and stared ahead, pleading herself not to cry or run or do anything else her body was so desperate to do.

"My snake can kill in an instant and dispose of the waste. I need you all to help feed her. She only enjoys non-magical blood and I am requesting a dead mudblood from each of you. Murdered with your own wand and brought back here before the first of December. Can you do that?"

There was a hesitation around the table. Sidra wasn't the only one who wasn't keen on murdering so thoughtlessly.

"This is the only way to prove your loyalty to me. Achieve this and you will become my Death Eaters and receive my mark. Fail and I will feed you to my snake."

He was gone with a shadowy wind that slammed the doors shut behind it.

Sidra looked to Regulus and to her surprise and immense discomfort, he was smiling.