Seduced By Darkness

Disclaimer : I do not own any of the Harry Potter Characters, Scholastic or Warner Brothers Copy Righted products and/or titles. J.K. Rowling is a Goddess.

Chapter 2 : The Test

\"The difference between greatness and mediocrity is often how an individual views a mistake...\"
-- Nelson Boswell

***

It was a beautiful and sunny, Saturday afternoon. Claudia and her friends spent most of day lazily hanging around Hogsmead, or the Hogwarts Castle grounds. At the moment, Claudia, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, the twins, and her best friend Keely, were near the Shrieking Shack. They were being watched, of course, by about five Aurors and yet many more were watching the other students. Not to mention that Sirius, Lupin, Professor Snape and about six other members of the order were up and about. While they didn’t want to make the kids feel more trapped and secluded than they already did they also knew that for them to have these outings the outmost precautions had to be taken. This was particularly true when Harry was out with them.

Claudia was seventeen, had turned that age last May, it was November already and the village was covered in snow. It looked beautiful, she along side all her friends were junior members of the Order. Her parents, were pureblood wizards, senior Order members and quite proud of her and her God-sister. Her powers kept growing every year, as she continued to study and learn all that she could in order to be ready if the time came. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville were the other Gryffindors who were junior order members. Of course, next to Harry all their powers seemed to pale in comparison but they all had their own distinct ways that set them apart.

Her hair was long, down to the middle of her back. It was a golden brown and it curled silkily at the bottom. Her eyes were striking, they looked like honey, they slanted like a cat’s eyes, and she had thick dark gold eyelashes. Her lips where round, full and always seemed cherry red. Claudia had Olive skin due to her Grandmother being Greek, and it gave her an exotic look. She had a curvaceous body with full breasts, and judging by all the attention she got from boys she supposed that particular fact was what was most appreciated by them. Sometimes it annoyed her, although Keely and Ginny got the same amount of attention as she did but she didn’t think she was very extraordinary.

“Harry, kids…” Sirius was calling out, “I think that we should all start to head back now.” It had rapidly gotten darker and chillier. The birds that had been happily singing a few moments ago had fled and only the eerie rustle of leaves, due to the strong wind, remained. Harry was walking ahead with Ginny, Hermione and Ron. Claudia stopped to wait for Neville since his shoelace had come undone. Then she heard it, a high pitched scream coming from the end of the village. “Death Eaters! HERE!” A villager was screaming. She whirled around and looked to see hooded figures with blank white faces slowly advancing, casting spells as they went. Her mind thought how utterly stupid and reckless they must be. Death Eaters in Hogsmead? The little village was filled with Aurors and order members. Did they all want to be caught or killed? Had Voldermort grown that desperate to get Harry? Behind her more screams, some third years had wondered too close to the Shrieking Shack and were now being hexed by Death Eaters that were apparently hiding there.

She felt someone grab her arm painfully and looked up to find Professor Snape dragging her behind him and roughly getting Neville up by his winter robe’s collar, “Get away from here,” He hissed and when Neville didn’t move fast enough to suit him he pushed him, “NOW Longbottom and take Miss Olmo with you.” They began to leave, Dumbledore had made them promise that if Aurors and senior order members were present to try not to engage in duels with Death Eaters. Claudia stopped walking when she didn’t feel Neville beside her, she slightly turned to see that he had stopped and was staring straight ahead at something, no, at someone. “Bellatrix” She whispered, she knew who the woman was because she had seen her picture and a description of her had been given at length. She was one of Voldermort’s most trusted and loyal followers, she was also responsible for the condition of Neville’s parents. She started running as soon as she realized what Neville intended to do.

He had raised his wand and yelled, “Stupify” However, in his rage at the woman his emotions weren’t very controlled and while the spell knocked her off her feet it hadn’t caused her any damage. She got up laughing madly, “Aw, baby Longbottom out to get revenge for his pathetic parents?” This made Neville red in the face with rage, again Claudia yelled his name but he ignored her. Professor Snape was too busy dealing with two Death Eaters to try and help and the other order members had not noticed what was happening. “Crucio” Yelled Bellatrix, in a hateful, high-pitched voice. Neville’s cry of pain almost made Claudia physically ill. “Expelliarmus” She yelled with such force that she knocked Bellatrix back and made her hit her head against the Shack’s front door.

Claudia dropped down next to Neville who was panting, “Get up ... GET UP!” She yelled when he wasn’t moving fast enough. His eyes were glazed over and he didn’t seem to be hearing her, as much as it pained her she slapped him hard and shook him. That seemed to bring him around, “Get up Neville, we have to go” But as she put Neville’s arm around her neck she heard Bellatrix cuss. “You little bitch! You will pay for that, stupid girl!” She got up, her head slightly bleeding and raised her wand “Ava-” But Claudia was too fast for her, “INCENDIO” She yelled and burned the side of Bellatrix’s face. The woman was now beyond furious and fell back into the snow screaming and clutching her face. Claudia was saved from having to try and carry Neville since Professor Snape had finally disposed of his two Death Eaters and now had a hold of him, Lupin and Sirius had also come around. “Take her, Bellatrix won’t stay down for long.” He told Sirius who had grabbed her hand and was leading her out. A strange sensation washed over Claudia’s body at that moment and she looked back, not at Bellatrix, but at the surrounding forest. She felt someone’s eyes on her and had an almost uncontrollable urge to turn back. It was an insane feeling and she was glad for Sirius’s iron-like grip on her arm.

Back in the castle, the talk was why had the Death Eaters come? It almost seemed like they were on some sort of exercise. As most of them disapparated as soon as the odds seemed to tilt against them or if they were injured in any way, no matter how insignificant. Only Bellatrix had attempted to continue fighting. All of them, Snape and Dumbledore included, were mystified by their behavior and wondered what Voldermort hoped to accomplish by it. For if nothing else they were certain that he had sent them.

Claudia sat by her bedroom window in Gryffindor Tower, overlooking the snow covered castle grounds. She couldn’t shake that feeling that had overcome her just as they were leaving the Shrieking Shack. What was it is she wondered? Who could’ve been there, watching? She felt that someone was there. Lightly shaking her head and laughing she smiled, “You are losing your mind, no one was there. It was probably just the tension of what happened.” She felt better saying the words but the shadow of doubt in her mind did not completely leave her.

***

From the shadows that the forest provided, Tom and Lucius watched with great interest the activities of the villagers and students. In truth, Lucius seemed a bit bored by the whole thing, he was tense only because he knew what was coming and he wasn’t at all confident in most of the Death Eaters that they had brought with them. It seemed to him that the Dark Lord had picked the least skilled of his Death Eaters to accompany him. With the exception of five the fifteen others were, at least by his personal opinion, imbeciles. They had their uses but they were worthless just the same. He eyed his young Dark Lord warily, how different and yet the same he was. His face, with its stunning beauty, could distract you from the danger and cruelty that lurked just beneath the surface. Lucius knew that he had picked these Death Eaters because like him he realized that they were the most incompetent. He could only imagine what he would do to them later tonight when they undoubtedly failed.

Unlike Lucius, Tom was greedily drinking in everything he saw. He had always liked looking at people, talking to them, and getting to know them. It was the best way to get to know their weaknesses and the only way to fully exploit them to their fullest potential. To have true power over someone you had to know everything about them. At the very least, the things that made that person who they were. After a couple of hours of mostly quiet observation he was ready to see how deep his Death Eaters ineptitude ran. While he watched the villagers, Aurors, students and order Members he had asked Lucius pointed questions about certain ones that interested him.

“So, Severus Snape, do you think he is spying for us or for Dumbledore?” The question had come after he had been asking about some inconsequential thing and it almost caught Lucius off guard. “I had thought that you had decided where Severus’s loyalties laid, my Lord” Tom almost smiled, he liked Lucius’s sharp mind, “I have, but I want to know what you think Lucius.” Choosing his words carefully he said, “I think, my Lord, that he isn’t to be trusted blindly. I truly do not know if he’s on Dumbledore’s side or ours. By what my sources in Hogwarts have shown me he seems to loath Harry Potter and always has.” Tom eyes sparkled, but not with amusement “That seems to stem from his hatred of the boy’s father and Godfather.” Lucius nodded, “Just the same I am just not certain that he is a traitor my Lord.”

Tom regarded him quietly and then said, his voice dangerously low, “Of course, if you did have absolute proof, your past friendship with him would not override your loyalty to me would it?” Lucius looked at him, seductive eyes gleaming back at him with cold, controlled wickedness. “I would not hesitate to kill him myself my Lord.” Then he bowed to him and didn’t dare look up until he heard him acknowledge this, “Very well Lucius, I trust that you will do that.” He then turned away from him. It was almost time for the entertainment to start and his lip curled into a sneer. He was certain that most would fail and he looked forward to showing them his discontent later that night.

Harry Potter and his friends had been fairly close but a tall, wide oak tree blocked most of them from his view so he didn’t bother much with them. When the attack started his attention was mostly on the far end of the village, as most of the Death Eaters he was eager to see in action were attacking there. He noticed when Lucius’s mouth thinned for he was realizing the same thing that he already had. They were pathetic and they were embarrassing themselves and thus him by their show of weakness. Only Bellatrix, Lestrange, Avory and Knott where fighting worth anything.

He was getting ready to disapparate as most of his Death Eaters were gone when he was distracted by a boy. The only reason he caught his attention was because he was advancing with his wand raised and pointed at Bellatrix. Tom looked at him with a smile, that would have looked ugly on any other mouth, tugging at his lips. He wondered what the boy meant to do when he heard the stunning spell. Tom thought that had the boy been focusing more he would’ve really knocked Bellatrix out, but as it was, it was a weakly shouted curse. Bellatrix just laughed at him and taunted him. “So that’s the Longbottoms boy is it?” Lucius nodded, clearly enjoying the scene.

She was now using Cruciatus on him. Tom had always enjoyed watching or using the curse, it’s what it did to the victim that sent his blood racing. He particularly liked the ones that tried to fight it because they were that much more fun to break. But for the second time in less than five minutes his attention was once again diverted. A young woman had raced up, dark golden hair covering her face, wand in the air, she had yelled “Expelliarmus” Bellatrix was thrown up and backwards against the Shack. He was impressed, as he could feel her angry indignation toward Bellatrix for daring to hurt her friend.

Tom watched her as she tried to get her friend to get up and follow her. She even yelled and slapped him when he wasn’t reacting fast enough. “How interesting, she’s a little hellcat isn’t she?” He really didn’t wait for Lucius to respond, he was eying Bellatrix who was cussing and yelling at the girl. He had taken his wand out because he had known Bellatrix’s intent when she had raised her wand, she meant to kill the girl and he didn’t want her dead without seeing her face first. However, the girl was quick and she hexed Bella with the Incendio charm. Tom almost laughed at Bella’s outraged screams as the girl had caught her in the face. However, his laughter died in his throat as soon as he saw her face. He was certain that he had seen women more beautiful than her, was in fact certain of it, but at the moment he couldn’t think of any of them. She was exquisite, her face was flushed, her eyes flashed angrily and dangerously at Bella.

Suddenly everything went quiet, as he could only focus on her. His eyes wandered over every inch of her face and he cursed the winter months for the damnable thick robes she was wearing that were concealing her body from his view. His eyes narrowed as he eyed Sirius Black, who had grabbed the young woman by the arm and taken her away. She had looked back but not at Bella, instead she had looked at Tom. He knew that she had not seen him as he and Lucius were concealed but she had sensed him there. He wondered about that for a moment before turning to Lucius.

“Who is she?” His voice was strong but low, Lucius looked at him, “The daughter of Caleb and Cora Olmo, her name is Claudia.” He readily knew about the girl because she was part of one of the few Pureblood families left and coincidentally, a family that was openly opposing his Lord. “Ah, the Olmo’s, yes her parents are in the Order and she must be too, as she looks to be about 17 is she not?” Tom asked him. Lucius nodded, “I believe so as she started school when my son did.”

He watched as the Dark Lord pointed his wand at Bellatrix and disapparated her out of the village then he turned to him. Tom had come to a decision. Whenever he wanted something he simply took it and now it would be no different. “Bring her to me, unspoiled, do you understand me Lucius?” It was disconcerting how menacing and dangerous he looked. When he had been the inhuman looking red eyed devil you only had to look at him to see that he was cruel and evil. But now, with this face and his dark eyes, it was even more chilling for he was so deceptively beautiful that it was easy to let your guard down around him. “I understand my Lord.” Tom nodded and walked away from him saying, “See that you get it done soon. I will inform a few of the Death Eaters that manage to stand after tonight of what I want done.” With his robes billowing in the air he disapparated. Lucius was left wondering how the hell he was going to kidnap the Olmo’s daughter.