章 12: Chapter 11.
Chapter 11
The Nightmare Man
Summary: In the depths of the Ministry, there is a cell for the world's most dangerous man… and he wants out.
Pairing/s: None.
Warnings: Time travel, OOC-characters, Light!bashing, Twisted!Harry, Evil!Harry, violence, mention of gore. Yeah, stuff like that.
Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money writing this.
-o-
Edited 2020
-o-
Chapter Eleven
James Potter wasn't known for infinite patience. He could wait things out, yes, but he was more of an impulsive person, with a shifting temper when necessary. He didn't sit still and let things happen when he was still around to stop it, or change it.
So when his wife was kidnapped without a trace, his rage had no outlet, and not even Sirius could have him sit down for a moment. Instead, Sirius resorted to taking his wand because James kept holding it and everyone was getting a bit nervous with the sparks shooting out of it the harder James clenched it in his hand.
"I never even woke up!" James screamed, not for the first time, Order members milling around the house. "She was there, and then she wasn't. I'm a bloody Auror, I should've noticed my wife being taken from the bedroom I was in!"
"There's nothing yet," Tonks said quietly, her hair shifting colours every few seconds. "There are no foreign magical signals."
"Well, she didn't wander out on her own now did she?!"
"James, it's not Tonks' fault," Sirius said, pushing James back a bit. "Take a breath, mate, you know she's just reporting what she's finding out so far."
James took a breath, and waved his hand at Tonks.
"I get it, James," she said. "We still haven't finished analysing the entire place, so we might still find something."
"Maybe they got sloppy outside the wards," Sirius suggested.
"Oh, yeah. I'm on it!"
Tonks ran out the door, wand in hand, and James sat down on the couch. He jumped up a few moments later. He began pacing, hands clenching and unclenching, watching the stairs, then the windows, before going back to the stairs. Sirius stood helplessly at the door.
They were all interrupted when a shrill alarm sounded through the house.
"Who did that?" someone called from upstairs.
"It wasn't me!"
"Me neither!"
"James?"
James moved to the kitchen, half-running, and found the object. It spun wildly in the palm of his hand, and he looked up as Albus came to the kitchen after Sirius.
"James?" Albus said.
"Lily set this up," James replied. "For her sister's house. It would sound when a magical person attacked the house."
"This cannot be a coincidence," Albus said. "Keep searching for whoever took Lily; I'll go to Petunia's house."
-o-
By the time Albus arrived with a few select Order members, Petunia Dursley's house was burning. Muggles had gathered outside, but at Albus' nod, the others made the Muggles leave and then started on dousing the house with water spells.
"Any magical signals?" Albus asked.
"None here," Mad-Eye said.
"I have one, a faint one!" Shacklebolt called out. "Albus, this magical signature… it's very similar to that of the Nightmare Lord!"
"It can't be. He hasn't done any Muggles attacks since his escape, and now he targets Lily's sister?"
Once the fire was put out, they moved into the half-burnt house at great haste.
Whatever part of the hallway walls that had been spared from the flames was splattered with blood. There were bloody footprints on the floor. The kitchen was completely blackened by the fire, but the living room appeared almost untouched.
From the flames at least. The picture frames were broken, and Dudley Dursley's body was found near the couch. The teenager had been killed swiftly, with no visible injuries.
"The killing curse most likely," Shacklebolt said.
"What about his parents?" Albus wondered.
"I'll have a look upstairs," Remus said.
"The blood in the hallway suggests one body," Mad-Eye commented as Remus walked up the stairs.
They heard him walk around, and then come downstairs.
"No one made it upstairs," he said. "They must have been attacked in the hallway. But why would the Nightmare Lord go after them?"
"What if he's the one who took Lily?" Albus said. "After all, this is her sister's home."
"But why?" Remus asked. "Why single Lily out? She's an enemy, yes, but… she hasn't stood out amongst us, so why did he pick her?"
"She did stand out," Shacklebolt said. "During that last raid, she attacked him on her own. He knows she cares for Severus, could be why he singled her out. To torture her with the knowledge he turned Severus into a mindless slave."
"So, what, killing her sister is just further torture?" Remus said. "Why not James and Harry?"
"Harry is safe at Hogwarts, and the Nightmare Lord must know that," Albus said. "And James doesn't go anywhere alone. Perhaps this lord saw poor Petunia and her family as easier targets."
"Somehow, the Nightmare Lord doesn't strike me as a person who cares for that sort of thing," Shacklebolt said as they watched the body of Dudley Dursley.
"Then what other reason could he possibly have to want to kill Lily's sister?" Remus wanted to know.
To that, no one had an answer that would make sense.
-o-
Harrison had Elise bring in people from different parts of both the country, as well as other parts of Europe, and make sure no one saw said people disappear. It would be a mystery, and during different times as well, to not make it too suspicious.
Why? Well, they were food.
Or a decent distraction, at the very least. Seven new Dementors had responded to his call when Lily Potter tried to flee. But they weren't fully developed. They were still too young, and… well, for lack of other words, a bit helpless.
"Master, the people have been brought to the room you requested."
Harrison hummed at Elise's words, not moving. The young Dementors surrounded him, grasping at the air or him but sort of asleep, finally relaxing. Elise crept closer, but as he had taught the Dementors his servants were on their side, none of them reacted. They would have time to learn who they could attack, and which ones they should leave alone. But Dementors were easily taught, he had learned over the years, so he didn't anticipate any troubles with the new ones.
"When will you call for the rest of them?" Elise inquired. "They must await your call."
"They have their duties to perform."
"You don't care about that part."
"I do want to see them," Harrison said. "But they still performing their duties will put people like Cornelius on edge, which is what I want. I will call on them when the time's right."
"And these ones? Will they be feeding on all the people we've gathered?"
"Yes?"
"You offer them too much comfort food, master."
"Elise, they aren't fully developed yet, I practically commanded them out of their womb," Harrison said. "They deserve some love and care."
"That sounds wrong coming out of your mouth."
"Shush, just let me indulge them for a bit."
"What if something happens?"
"Then you make it not happen, it's not that difficult."
"Master…"
"I trust you to take care of everything until they are stronger, Elise," Harrison said. "Make sure the people you took won't wake up ahead of time; I'll take the Dementors down soon to feed them."
"And once they've eaten?"
"Empty them of blood, preserve the blood, and burn the bodies."
"You won't need the bodies?"
"The trees needs more blood than flesh right now."
One of the Dementors twitched, but stilled once he tapped it gently on the head. By this point he knew most people were disgusted by how the Dementors looked. But he didn't care. They weren't supposed to calm people down. Dementors were born out of his anger and hate, and were to be feared. He created monsters that fed on people's happiness and souls.
Also, Dementors didn't care for most other people. They cared for him, as he cared for them. The older ones knew his servants, and probably liked them as well. The older ones, most of them at Azkaban for the time being, knew he cared for them even if he waited to call for them.
He still wasn't sure if he was in the same dimension he was born in, or if he had accidentally left it, creating a new future by mistake. But he didn't think too much of it, unless he wanted a headache.
"What about the two Muggles from earlier?" Elise asked at last.
"Oh, those two… leave them be. I have plans for them."
"If this Voldemort drops by, should I send him away?"
"As if this scene is enough to even remotely disturb him," Harrison told her. "No, if he comes, send him to me."
-o-
Voldemort had heard about the kidnapping of Lily Potter, the attack on her Muggle sister's family, and had an inkling it had something to do with the Nightmare Lord. So he decided to visit and figure out what exactly the man was doing.
This time he chose not to appear in the hallway, but outside. He glanced a the trees where they stood, and then moved towards the entrance doors. They opened on their own and Voldemort expected a servant.
Instead he came face to face with a Dementor without a hood on. Voldemort stopped, and the Dementor froze. He couldn't see any eyes on the creature, yet had the feeling he was being stared at.
Then the Dementor made a screeching sound and moved away from him. A Dementor ran away from him. Voldemort blinked, and Harrison came out into the hall. Once he spotted Voldemort, his posture relaxed.
"It's only Voldemort, silly," he said to the Dementor. "Hello, Voldemort, come on in. I'll just… why are you hiding behind me?"
The Dementor grasped Harrison's shoulders, ducking down behind him.
"You eat happiness and souls," Harrison informed the Dementor.
The Dementor made a noise that Voldemort could only describe as a whine.
"There, there, now, don't make that sound," Harrison said, reaching behind to pet it.
"Why isn't it clothed?" Voldemort asked.
"It's a young one," Harrison explained. "Hence why it ran away from you."
"Young… what?"
"From my trees. They're full of decay, a perfect growing environment for these children."
"Your trees… you're using the trees to grow Dementors?" Voldemort asked.
"Well, how else are they supposed to get born?" Harrison said. "They don't breed, nor do they have genders. There used to be places where they were born naturally, outside of my control, but people destroyed those places. Because frightened people destroy everything in their path."
The Dementor pressed closer to Harrison, who didn't seemed fazed by rotten hands clamped onto his shoulders, or the eyeless face near his own.
"So I kept gardens here and there," Harrison continued. "To let them grow."
"How many have you grown so far this time?" Voldemort asked.
"Seven has come out, but it was a bit premature. Don't worry though, they already know in general who to leave alone. So this one is just being shy."
"Do they even know that feeling?"
"They do feel things, Voldemort. They just don't tend to show it often."
Voldemort decided to leave that alone.
"I heard you are possibly the culprit of kidnapping a Muggle family."
"Oh, so people do suspect me of that? My apologies if that caused a commotion on your part, I just had to do it."
"Why?"
"Personal reasons."
"Is that so," Voldemort said. "Where are they right now?"
"In a lot of pain."
"That's how they are, not where."
Harrison just smiled. Voldemort cleared his throat and continued:
"Fine, what about Lily Potter?"
"Oh, I had to know the location of the Muggles, so I kidnapped her."
"I mean, is she alive?"
"She'll turn up eventually," Harrison said and smiled wider. "I broke her a bit. Perhaps too little, she may have seen something she shouldn't have but oh well… I'm an idiot, so I'll deal with it if it happens I suppose."
"You let her live?"
"Yeah, that was pretty idiotic too, but I do like to let people live for a bit longer. You know, just prolonging their suffering."
"I tend to end things quickly," Voldemort said. "Bellatrix is the sloppy one. Her favourite spell is the Cruciatus spell."
"Ah, the Cruciatus spell." Harrison began to walk, Voldemort falling in step while the Dementor clamped onto the Nightmare Lord's arm, hiding its face in his shoulder. "I've used it over the years. Effective yes, but oh, so boring in the end."
"People screaming in agony isn't enough for you?"
"I didn't mind the screaming, it was the just standing around that got to me. I prefer to be more hands on, you know?"
"Ah, yes, you don't get to do much besides holding a wand when using Crucio…"
"I can't believe that's what you're discussing."
"Lucian," Harrison greeted the servant. "If you're just going to pop out of nowhere, have something more constructive to say than that."
"One of the Muggles are screaming. The woman. It's very annoying."
"So I guess Petunia woke up then," Harrison said. "Wonderful. You, child, yes you… you can't onto me all day. Return to the others."
The Dementor in question appeared reluctant to let go of the Nightmare Lord.
"It's just down the hall, silly," Harrison told it. "You'll be scary and independent one day, so this is good practice. Come on, twenty feet, you can do that. I believe in you."
The Nightmare Lord pep-talking a newborn Dementor… Voldemort just about managed to swallow his snort, but Lucian glancing over told him the servant had noticed it.
The Dementor waited for a few moments before releasing Harrison's arm. Harrison moved back and the Dementor flailed around, about to make a grab at Harrison when he pointed down the hall. A few moments passed, and the Dementor practically fled down the hall, into the room, and slamming the door shut.
"I believe the expression I've been looking for is 'mothering them'," Voldemort couldn't help but say.
"Well, they're the closest thing I have to children, so…"
"Liar," Lucian said. "You stole Angel."
"Lucian, tongue."
"Angel?" Voldemort said. "Who's that?"
Lucian looked at Harrison, and Harrison looked at Lucian.
"Oh, fine," Harrison said, "tell him then. I'm an idiot."
"Master went out one night and came back with a baby," Lucian said to Voldemort. "She was named Angel."
"Came back with a baby?"
"He didn't notice he had stolen her until Elise pointed it out. Master's reaction was very funny."
"You stole a baby?" Voldemort asked Harrison.
"By accident!" Harrison said. "Oh, I'm never living that one down, now am I? But I'm not the one caring for her, it's you lot… like Severus. And Joanne. Alright, and Ywgraine too. Elise is already handling her clothes shopping."
"But master, you got up last night when Angel was crying."
"Only because if she didn't stop, I would've ripped her lungs out."
"You sang her a lullaby!"
"That was… why were you awake?!"
Voldemort watched the two argue for a bit more before saying:
"You're unexpectedly caring for people and creatures around you."
Harrison gagged, and Voldemort hid his smile behind his hand.
"Very… kind," he continued and Harrison shivered.
"Oh, I hate hearing that word about me," Harrison bemoaned. "Alright, so I sang the child to sleep again, so what? It's not like I can kill her now."
"You've killed babies before then?"
"Several times," Lucian said. "Especially when the parents begged master not to. But back then you were a very different person, master."
"Of course I was, I was younger back then and not as tired and bored."
"Master, you were over a hundred years old before I became your servant," Lucian pointed out.
"That's not old," Harrison replied. "Is it?"
"To some, a hundred years old is a respectable age," Voldemort told him. "Mostly Muggles."
"Well, I don't care what Muggles think. Ah, right, Petunia… exactly how much was she screaming, Lucian?"
"Loud enough I feel like ripping her lungs out," Lucian said.
"That's a bit violent," Harrison said.
"You're violent, master."
"I just came here to find out about Lily Potter and her Muggle family, so now that I know, I will leave you to enjoy the rest of your day," Voldemort cut in before another argument could break out.
As he walked out, he wondered what Lily Potter might have found out that would cause troubles, but ultimately Harrison had let her live and they would have to deal with the consequences later.
-o-
Harrison and Lucian watched Voldemort leave. Then Harrison turned to Lucian.
"Are you going to rip my tongue out?" Lucian asked.
"… No," Harrison answered at last. "I have changed, I suppose. In some ways. I wasn't very pleasant to be around when you first became my servant, now was I?"
"You got better, slowly, master," Lucian said. "But don't fall back to old habits. We all like you better like this."
With that, he walked off before Harrison could comment on it. Harrison watched him, and then stood alone for a while. He listened to the manor. Footsteps on the second floor. Somewhere, Elise was talking… was she commenting food? If she was, who was cooking?
Well, as long as it wasn't Harrison. not that Elise would ever let him into the kitchen. Back then, he wouldn't have gone into the kitchen. He wouldn't have cared what Elise did in there.
He had changed. Somewhat. At least for the servants. He wasn't as impatient with them as he used to be. Before, he wanted the servants near one moment, and then wanted them gone the next. He wanted them to speak, but the moment they did, he got angry.
Harrison supposed being in prison made him more bearable. He didn't even mind when the servants made fun out of him. He didn't like being called kind, but it didn't trigger the old rage like it used to. But had it been before he was captured, he would have considered hurting both Voldemort and Lucian for speaking like that to him.
"I'm getting old… or growing soft. Both options are terrible."
He turned to the dungeons and walked downstairs, snapping his fingers as he reached the bottom. Torches lit up, and he changed the colour to green flames on one torch that he took with him. Seeing an unnatural fire would further upset Petunia, which was just what he wanted.
He could hear her by the foot of the stairs, so the silencing wards must have failed. He turned to the wall, where a ward stone had been put in place. He started it again, so the screaming from the dungeons once more were cut off from the rest of the manor, and started down the hallway towards the cell where Petunia was.
Her wailing bounced off the walls, and grew in intensity the closer he got.
"Tuney," he sang. "You're very lively right now."
"Let us out! Let us out!"
He came to their cell at last, and Petunia moved away from the bars, eyes on the green fire at first. But then she looked at him and said:
"What did you do to my Dudley? Where's my son?!"
"Where most corpses end up, I imagine; decomposing in a wooden coffin six feet under," Harrison replied. "It is six feet, right? I never counted the feet when I dug up bodies, but I've heard it's six feet."
"You… you killed my boy?" Petunia said.
"Yes," he replied. "Too quickly as well, but no one is perfect."
"You… you!"
"I once had a professor… well, she wasn't really a professor but whatever, she taught me 'I must not tell lies', and she should be proud. I tend not to tell lies. Especially when the truth really hurts. In this case, lying would make your life easier so I won't lie to you."
"What did we ever do to you?!" she sobbed out.
Her hands were scraped raw, her clothes torn in several places. Petunia was sweating, and crying so much snot was coming out of her nose.
"Nothing," he said. "And a lot. Depends on how you look at it. Once upon a time, a very long time ago for me, you taught me how to hate. Hate is easier to learn than love. I was never taught how to love a person. And I wasn't loved at the place I had to call home. Because you hated magic. Which meant you hated me. Not like anyone listened to me when I said that."
"What are you talking about?" Petunia shouted. "I don't know you!"
"That's true. I'm just being unreasonable. You didn't raise Harry Potter this time around. This place's Harry Potter knows love, I presume, because his parents are alive."
"What… Lily's son?"
"But when I was Harry, I grew up with you," Harrison said and stepped closer, dismissing the torch. "Now, this time is different. You never raised me. But see, I don't care. I want you dead for petty revenge."
"Revenge?"
"Yes, and useless revenge too since I like who I am and my upbringing did help me into choosing this path," Harrison said. "Now, I'm not going to point any fingers; the Petunia who raised me didn't force me to become like this. But she did play a part."
"But I'm not her!" Petunia cried out.
"I know. And I still don't care. I am going to kill you. But first I think I'll break you to the point you'll be begging for death."
Petunia started shaking, hiding her face. But then she was on her feet, slammed against the bars and spat him in the face. He blinked, and wiped some of it off. With a snap of his fingers, he conjured a cloth out of thin air and cleaned his face.
"That was a bit foolish of you," he said and thrust his hand forward.
Magic turned his hand into a claw, and Petunia gasped, looking down. His entire hand was inside of her chest. She coughed, and blood came out of her mouth. Harrison pulled his hand out and held it up, letting her see the clawed fingers drenched in blood.
"Are you going to spit at me again?" he asked.
"I'm dying!"
"Oh, no, Petunia, you're not. It's just a flesh wound. I've learnt how to drag death out for as long as I want it."
She backed away, hands over the wound, screaming because she hadn't noticed he had already stopped the bleeding. Snot and tears mixed with the blood.
"Disgusting," he muttered.
"I haven't done anything," she said. "We haven't done anything; you killed my boy for nothing! My Dudley!"
"Yes, I did."
"For no reason!"
"No, I had a reason," Harrison. "It's because I wanted it."
"What?"
"I wanted to kill Dudley, and eventually you and Vernon as well. That's my reason. I wanted it, so I did it."
That made her start wailing and she pushed herself against the wall furthest away from bars.
"Probably a bit selfish," Harrison mused. "That's not good is it? You're not supposed to be selfish. So I should make up for it. But how? Should I get something for my servants? Like a gift? Or a toy for Angel? Those are… ugh, nice and selfless things to do, aren't they? I'm afraid I'm not very good at this whole being nice thing."
Petunia made no indication she had heard any of that. Harrison tilted his head.
"You're not listening to me, are you?" he said. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. You have a lot of things to think about. I'll leave you here in the dark to think."
He snapped his fingers again and the dungeons were plunged into darkness. Petunia started screaming. It was rather amazing that Vernon, who was shackled to the wall in the same cell, hadn't woke up at all. Maybe he was hit in the head too hard. Oh well, Harrison would wake him up eventually.
Harrison left Petunia to wallow in her own misery and moved back upstairs.
"Master?" Lucian looked at him. "Bath."
"Yes, yes, yes… wait, bath?" Lucian began to steer him towards the stairs. "What are you doing?"
"You are going to take a bath, and change clothes."
"Change clothes?" Harrison looked down at himself. "It's hardly a mess, it's just a few splatters of blood."
"Bath, change clothes."
"But I was going to the children…"
"You can do that later, after your bath."
"You're obsessed with this bath thing, aren't you?"
Harrison was pulled upstairs, down the hall, into his own bedroom and then pushed through the bathroom door. Lucian began to pull at his robes.
"I can undress myself, thank you very much," Harrison snapped.
"Then get to it, and then into the bath."
"What are you, a mother?"
"Shall I have you eat all your greens at dinner, master?"
"Foolish to assume I'll have dinner. Now shoo."
Harrison filled the bath and knew Lucian was waiting outside the door, so he made sure the man heard him sink into the water. A few moments later, he heard the bedroom door click, and looked up at the ceiling.
He had rambled a bit with Petunia. But it wasn't like she would be able to tell anyone.
As he got himself clean, he wondered about this whole selfless business. He didn't have to do it, and also wasn't sure on how to do it. It was still selfish if he gave someone something to make things better, right?
Also, if he was nice for no reason the servants would react on that. Elise probably by trying to check his temperature and make sure his brain hadn't melted. Lucian would most likely proclaim the ending of the world. Ywgraine and Joanne wouldn't know what to do with gifts… which just pointed that his older servants were not used to him being very nice at all.
Harrison supposed he had been nicer for a while when he was younger, but then fell back in old habits. However, acting the way he did when he was young was just not on.
So in the end, he went for material things and bought a stuffed unicorn toy for Angel. The fact that the child abandoned all other toys in favour for his did make him smile, and Severus snorted.
"You're very strange," Severus said.
"I know," Harrison replied. "Now leave me and Angel alone. You're just jealous she likes the toy I bought better than the ones you provided for her."
"… You can be annoying too."
"Oh, shut up."
To be continued…
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