Emerald and silver

Chapter 9


Harry woke up the next morning with the arrival of breakfast and noticed with amusement that he had been so tired he hadn’t even removed his clothes. While devouring his breakfast he was startled by a loud *POP* and big round eyes staring into his.
“Dobby, you found me,” Harry exclaimed.
“Is that you Harry Potter, sir? You look different, changed.” Dobby asked.
“Yes Dobby it’s me and I have changed. I’m told it’s the change some wizards go through when they are a little older.”
“Dobby knows about this wizard change Harry Potter, sir.”
“Was there any problem getting here Dobby. Does anyone know that you left?”
“Dobby had no problems sir. Dobby is telling no one he is leaving Harry Potter, sir.”
“I need you to make a decision, Dobby, but no matter what you decide, you can tell no one that you saw me, or that you know where I am.”
“Dobby promises, sir,” he said nodding his head vigorously.
“OK, here’s your choice; you can go back to Hogwarts and never see me again or you can stay here and work for me, I would pay you of course.”
“Why does Harry Potter need Dobby, sir?”
“Well Dobby, I need a personal assistant; someone I can trust, someone that will keep mcretcrets. I don’t really trust anyone else Dobby.”
“You can trust Dobby, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby will stay.”
“Thank you Dobby this means a great deal to me. I need to tell you some important things.” Dobby nodded his head so Harry continued, “ 1ST you can’t call me Harry Potter anymore. I’ve had to change my name. You need to call me James Evans. Butn evn ever we are around other people I need you to call me master. Where we are is a dangerous place and even though I consider you my friend, when we are around other people you have to pretend I am your master, for the safety of both of us. 2nd I don’t want to eat anything unless you have prepared it, that wt cat can’t have been tampered with by anyone else. 3rd I don’t want any of the other house elves in my rooms, only you. 4th if you have any questions or think that something is not right you come to me right away. 5th you can make friends with the other house elves but you can’t tell them any of our secrets. 6th you serve no one but me, you take orders from no one else unless I tell you otherwise. These things are very important for my safety Dobby. do you have any questions?”
“No, sir. Dobby understands James…Evans, sir.”
Harry gave Dobby a genuine smile then said, “Dobby I need to tell you something else. Do you know whose house we are in?” Dobby shook his head no.
“Do you know about the news in the papers about me?” Dobby shook his head no again.
“Well, the papers said that I did some really bad things and that the Ministry wants to capture me.” Dobby‘s eyes got even larger, if that were at all possible, because of the information his friend was telling him.
“If the Ministry finds me, they say they will take me straight to Azkaban to receive the Dementor’s Kiss. That’s why I’m here in hiding. This house belongs to Voldemort.”
“But he wants to kill you, James Evans sir!!!” Dobby shrieked.
“Not anym Dob Dobby, he is helping me hide. Are you still OK with being here?”
“Yes, sir. Dobby will not let you down sir.”
“Thank you, Dobby. Lord Voldemort will be up here soon. He is going to be teaching me since I can not go back to Hogwarts. The first thing he wants me to learn is magic without my wand. Why don’t you look around the mansion so you know where everything is and I’ll see you when it’s time for lunch.”
Dobby nodded his consent and with a *POP* he wone.one.

CHAPTER 10

Harry had just enough time to finish his breakfast before Voldemort arrived.
“Are you ready to begin?” he asked.
Harry looked up and he closed the door behind the Dark Lord with a wave of his hand.
“Excellent, what else can you do?”
Harry thought about it, raised his hand, and began pulling random things to himself and sending them back. Next he waved his hand and began extinguishing and relighting candles and torches around the room.
“Why don’t you try to transfigure something,” Voldemort said his eyes shinning in anticipation.
Harry concentrated waved his hand over his teacup and transformed it into a mouse and then back again. He looked around the room and started transforming anything and everything at random clearly running on an adrenaline high from the rush of magic. When almost everything in the room had been changed into something else, Voldemort with a single wave of his hand transformed everything back to it’s original state.
“I am very pleased with the ease in which you are achieving the use of your new talents. This,” Voldemort said holding up a book, “is the book that I mentioned about your family history. Save reading it for during your free time.” When he sat the book down on the table the Dark Lord noticed the Animungus book. Motioning to it, he said, “This, as well, should be no problem for you. Have you read the essentials in theory?”
“Yes, I skimmed most of the book last night.”
“Do you have any questions concerning the principle or theory, anything you don’t understand?”
“I don’t think so.” “Well then all that leaves is to just picture what you are going to become in your minds eye, examine it in full detail and transform yourself. Why don’t you give it a try.”

Harry thought about what animal he would like to become, but the only thing that kept coming into his mind was the emerald dragon from his dreams last night. He thought to himself, ‘why not’ and started to imagine the dragon in detail. As he thought about the image in his mind, he couldn’t help but notice how strikingly beautiful and magnificent the creature was. Shimmering emerald green scales covered its body with a single row of gold spikes trailing the dragon’s head and tail. Glistening emerald wings outlined in gold stretching from the back of this magical creature. The strong, muscular form was adorned with long golden claws, gleaming sharp white teeth and piercing gold eyes. Now he imagined himself becoming the image he had conjured in his mind. He formed the image toe by toe, leg by leg, muscle by muscle, and scale by shimmering scale. He could feel the transformation over taking his body, slowly he opened his eyes to gaze upon what he had become, the Emerald Dragon. The Dragon looked over to Voldemort to see the astonishment clearly imprinted upon the features of his face. Quickly the Dark Lord reapplied the cool mask of indifference back on his face.
The Dark Lord conjured a mirror for the Dragon to look at himself.
“Amazing my boy, I never would have imagined your animungus form to take on that of a magical creature, yet somehow it does not surprise me,” Voldemort said with enthusiasm. “You need to practice transforming. You must become familiar with your new form so you can transform quickly. Go ahead and transform back now.”
Harry closed his eyes once again, pictured himself in detail and opened his eyes to peer into the mirror and make sure that he had completely changed back.
“Come, sit, let’s talk,” Voldemort drawled.
Harry walked over to the sofa and sat down.
“Have you thought of an alias yet?” he asked Harry.
Harry shook his head no, thinking if he used James Evans while amongst the Death Eaters that he was sure to be found out.
“Hmmm, how about something to do with your new form. It is definitely a symbol of status. I also think that that would be an excellent show of your power at your ceremony and introduction. I think the name Emerald Dragon not only suits you but your new status as well. What do you think?”
Harry agreed; he was now to be known as the Emerald Dragon.

***

When Dobby finally appeared at lunch time with a tray of food, Harry was famished; it had been a long and tiring morning.
“Dobby, this is Lord Voldemort. You will show him the respect to which he is entitled.”
Dobby bowed low and said, “Yes, Master.” He then faced Voldemort bowing again and said, “Is there anything I can get you, Master?”
“Come back at 6pm to assist me in readying for dinner,” Harry replied.
Bowing low, Dobby disappeared with a *POP* once again.
“So he has decided to stay and serve you?” Voldemort asked, clearly amused at the display from the non-cowering house elf.
“Yes, he was happy to be able to serve me, we seemed to have formed a bond. He is most loyal to me.”
“Well, I’ll let you enjoy your lunch. For the rest of the afternoon, I would like you to read up on and practice charms,” Voldemort said summoning two books from the shelves along the wall and placed them onto the table. “You will demonstrate tomorrow what you learn. I will see you this evening at dinner. Until then,” Voldemort said as he turned and swept out of the room.
Harry tucked into his lunch until he felt he could eat no more. He then spent the afternoon reading the two books he was given on charms. He learned everything from summoning, to locking, silencing, repelling, protection charms and everything in between.
Dobby found him later, practicing all that he had read, at 6 pm as promised.
“Your new clothing arrived and I put it away in your closet, James Evans, sir. I set out your attire for dinner also, sir.” “Thank you Dobby. When I’m ready, I’ll need you to lead me down to the dining room. I have no idea where I’m going. I have not explored the house yet. Also the same rules for my breakfast and lunch also apply to my dinner. I would like you to oversee my dinner to make sure that no poisons or potions can be added.”
“Yes, sir. Dobby will make sure, sir.”
Dinner was actually quite pleasant. Voldemort and Harry mostly conversed about issues going on with the Ministry, each giving their views on the best remedy for different situations. The Dark Lord found his young apprentice’s views and ideas to be creative and inventive, and his strategy impressive. Harry also brought up his idea for tng tng the empty spare room in his suite into a ningning room. He described the type of equipment he wanted and the uses he had for them, explaining how he could improve his physical shape, endurance, and strength. Also he explained his need of a way to relieve frustrations, stress, and tension. Voldemort agreed to the idea saying that the equipment could be there in as little as two days time. But he specified that a large part of the room would need to remain empty for magical training and dueling practices.

The rest of the week went very quickly. Harry spent his time reading and showing Voldemort what things he had mastered as well as learning even more. At the end of every teaching session the Dark Lord would give him new books to read and learn from for the following days lessons. Harry also practiced his animungus form so that he was able to change to and from his dragon in the blink of an eye.

CHAPTER 11

~THE EVENING OF THE CEREMONY~

The weekend had finally arrived.ry wry was up in his suite getting dressed in his ceremonial robes. He intended to blend in with the others until it was time for his introduction. When he had finished readying himself, he quietly crept downstairs. He decided to keep to the shadows so he could openly observe others without being noticed. One of the first things he noticed was the differences in the ceremonial garb. The low-ranking Death Eaters wore plain black robes, those of the inner circles robe’s were trimmed in silver, and his robe was trimmed in gold.

Half an hour after he came downstairs, all of the Death Eaters had finally arrived and were circulating the room in greeting to each other. Harry mostly only recognized the followers from the inner circle; Lucius Malfoy, Sr.’s Crabbe GoylGoyle, Mcnair, Nott, Lestrange; the rest he could not name. The others he recognized were not part of the inner circle; Pettigrew, Marcus Flint and Snape. He overheard names he knew but had never seen before; Parkison, Zabini, and the Sr. Flint. It had been explained to him that normally, unless it was a social occasion, everyone would be wearing their masks for an initiation. However, since Harry was to be higher ranking than all those in attendance, he had a right to see their faces. Only when new initiates or Jr. Death Eaters were initiated would everyone cover their faces with masks. Not only was it intimidating but it also made identification more difficult, therefore making it harder for someone who was still on trial to be able to give away information to the enemy.
Harry had the fleeting thought of how easy it must be to escape from Azkaban, with help, seeing the Death Eaters that were captured last June were currently mingling with the others. Which would only make sense as Voldemort now controlled the majority of the Dementors. The Ministry would never be able to hold the Dark Lord’s followers, unless he chose not to release them. That is until they come up with some new way to make Azkaban impenetrable and escapable.
Voldemort signaled for everyone to gather and cease talking. When all were quiet the Dark Lord began his speech, “Tonight is a momentous occasion. Tonight is more than just a social gathering; we will be having an initiation.”
Quiet murmurs rosefromfrom various areas around the room.
He continued, “However, this will not be a traditional initiations ceremony. For I will be giving a mark to my successor, one whom I deem to be most worthy.”
Everyone was looking around to see who was to receive this accolade.
“I have chosen the one who is to be my equal. You will bow to him as you bow to me; you will serve him as you serve me.”
That was Harry’s cue. He walked out from the shadows toward the center of the room where Voldemort was standing. Once he had reached the Dark Lords side, he transformed in a flash to the Dragon. He lifted hiad aad and gave an ear-shattering roar. Those in the room stood transfixed, where they were, stunned by the magnificence of this creature.
“I give you, my successor, the Emerald Dragon.”
Just as quickly as he had changed, Harry transformed back to his human form and stood next Voldemort, an icy mask over his face concealing his emotions. The Death Eaters bowed low in way of acceptance as expected. Voldemort held out his hand, palm up. Harry reached his arm forward pushing back the sleeve of his robe and shirt and placed his wrist in the Dark Lords waiting hand with his inner arm turned up. Voldemort drew out his wand and placed the tip on the Emerald Dragons inner arm uttering the marking spell, “Signuis Domunus.”
A piercing white light shot out of Voldemort’s wand, wrapped itself around Harry’s arm and then entered his skin. A hot blue-white flame burned its way across Harry’s flesh. Instead of the traditional skull and serpent tattoo in black, there appeared a dragon with a serpent wrapped around it in gold, emblazoned across his arm. All the while Harry stood there as the tattoo became part of him, he didn’t move nor make a single sound or facial expression, though the pain was excruciating.
Voldemort released his arm, looked out into the crowd of his followers and commanded, “You will address him as tmeramerald Dragon from this day forth. Hold your glasses high and let us toast to one most worthy.”
After the toast the followers from the inner circle all approached their new leader to introduce themselves and show their loyalty. Harry made his way through the crowd eventually having been greeted by everyone. He noticed a few like Lucius and Mcnair look up to his forehead as if they were trying to confirm their suspicions by seeing the trademark scar. The scar that was no longer there, when they noticed that there was no mark, they looked somewhat relieved. ‘Guess they wouldn’t want to be lead around by someone that they were conditioned to despise,’ Harry thought.
Harry moved through the crowd and approached Snape, requesting a few potions for energy replacement, healing, and dreamless sleep. Snape, of course, agreed eagerly and asked if their were anything else he could provide, trying to further ingratiate himself. Harry noticed that Snape also peered at his forehead looking for the now non-existenrk. rk. After finishing his conversation with Snape, Harry made his way back to Voldemorts side. He leaned in and whispered into Voldemorts ear his thoughts that a few people were suspicious of his identity. The Dark Lord acknowledged his agreement that he had also noticed the looks from some and relieved Harry’s worries by stating that he would handle the situation.
The evening finally came to a close when the last of Voldemorts followers had left, disappearing from the grounds in front of the mansion. Harry made his escape to his room where he collapsed on his bed falling asleep before his head even hit the pillow.