Hero of the Story || James Potter x Hermione Granger Fanfiction

55 | and darkness will be rewritten

xxxxxv.

and darkness will be rewritten

(I'll Keep You Safe by Sleeping at Last)

__________

October 29, 1981

Voldemort firmly believed he was leading a bunch of imbeciles.

His order was simple – find the Potters and the Longbottoms, and kill their sons. It wasn't the hardest order he'd given to his Death Eaters and yet, September soon bled into October. Still, there was no sign of either family. He knew they were smart enough to hide under the Fidelius Charm, but finding their Secret Keeper had been futile. No matter how persistent he'd become in deploying more Death Eaters in search of a possible lead, he could still not discover who their Secret Keepers were.

All the Dark Lord could think about was the prophecy and the fact that most likely, Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom would be the one to cause his downfall. And he surely, surely could not accept that. He'd worked hard just to be where he was right now. He'd sacrificed too much and lost a lot of himself along the way. A mere baby could not destroy that.

Despite numerous Cruciatus curses, his followers never gave him any useful information. Loath was he to admit it, but Voldemort was growing desperate.

"My Lord."

He curled his hands into tight fists, annoyed at being bothered during one of his times of solitude. He directed his glaring eyes at his insolent follower, but then paused upon seeing Regulus Black standing in front of him. The young, Black heir wasn't part of his inner circle. Usually, the young Death Eater would keep to himself in their meetings, standing at the sidelines while he let the other, more experienced Death Eaters converse with the Dark Lord. Seeing him here today, willingly seeking an audience, surprised him greatly.

"My Lord, I bring you good news."

The young wizard looked nervous, yet confident and resolute. Other Death Eaters his age usually cowered in his presence, choosing to blend into the shadows and make themselves as invisible as possible. Regulus Black, apparently, was a delightful exception.

"Come forward," he then finally said, gesturing Regulus to come closer.

The Black heir stiffly followed and once he was at a decent distance, he stopped. Wordlessly, he pocketed his hand and pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment. Voldemort warily eyed the seemingly unimposing paper in his hand, a small frown now stretching on his pale face.

"It recently came to my knowledge that the Potters' Secret Keeper was Peter Pettigrew, my Lord," Regulus said. A mocking scoff escaped from his lips, clear disbelief in his silver eyes. "We've done your bidding. We've constantly followed those who were close to the Potter family. Frankly, if I may be so bold, choosing Peter Pettigrew as their Secret Keeper seemed terribly obvious."

"And yet, you've only managed to discover that after months of their hiding," Voldemort hissed. It gave him some grim satisfaction when Regulus flinched.

"Dumbledore and the resistance knew we were looking for the Secret Keeper," Regulus reasoned out. "Everybody is on high alert. You—"

"Silence," he boomed. Quickly then, his wand was in his hand, a soft 'Crucio' escaping from his lips.

The young wizard screamed in agony and was brought onto his knees. He'd only kept the spell running for mere seconds, but once he'd removed it, there were already beads of sweat on Regulus's forehead.