Harry Potter 60

37

Summer

The door shut, Draco and Cynthia looking worriedly at their brother and Erus picked the mirror up. He took a deep breath, steeled himself and opened it.

"Before you start shouting dad I just want you to know I didn't try to make you angry or something," the teen said quickly.

"Erus… I really should have seen it coming, shouldn't I?"

"Yeah… I guess you should have, dad."

"Then how come I didn't?" Voldemort asked, his red eyes swirling. He was livid but trying desperately to control himself. He knew just how badly Erus reacted to his anger and tried to stay calm.

"I guess… you didn't want to?"

"That's not it! I should have seen it, and yet I walked around like a blind man! And you didn't mention one word to me, Erus! Not one word!"

Erus involuntarily flinched at the man's scream and took a deep breath.

"I had to," he said quietly.

"Again?! You always had to the previous years! You always needed to do it alone!"

"I wasn't alone on this one!"

"Who more lied straight in my face?!" Voldemort shouted, rising up from the chair in anger.

"I made them do it!" Erus shouted back. "They wanted to tell you but I said no! It's not their fault!"

"Who was it?!"

"Sirius, Rockwood and Bill," Erus said softly. "That's why you've seen me with them this year. I normally don't talk much with Rockwood, but he got involved."

"How?" Voldemort said as he slowly sat down on the chair again, feeling old. He now knew why Rockwood had been in the dungeons at the same time Erus had been. He had talked to the man from time to time yet suspected nothing.

"He stole a Prophecy for me," the teen said.

"What Prophecy?" Now Voldemort was confused. Why would his son need to know a Prophecy?

"I'll let you hear it later," Erus said. "All you need to know is that either you or someone else had to die. I was not about to let it be you, dad."

"What are you talking about?"

"Either you die, or someone else. You two were supposed to fight, and if you had you would most likely have died," Erus said. "I only managed because he was surprised and that I had help with me. I don't know what kind of powers he had but I knew I had to do this."

"Who was it?" Voldemort demanded to know.

"… Neville Longbottom."

"What? That brat can't even lift a wand!"

"He can," the raven-haired man replied. "He had something that he hid about himself. He and Dumbledore were up to something, and I was not going to let them do anything against you."

Voldemort rubbed his temples, feeling a headache approaching. This was way too much.

"So what Severus told me was about that?"

"If it was about Dumbledore wanting him to lure you to a certain place, then yes."

"I was wondering a bit why he didn't say anything more about that," the Dark Lord said.

"Don't be angry on them," Erus pleaded. "They didn't want to lie to you."

"Did you want to?"

"No, of course not!"