The Strong Side Of Darkness
Chapter 01
The gathering and the truth

It's the 19th of June and in one of the deepest lying rooms of Riddle Manor four men and a woman are sitting together at a large, nicely ornamented table. The four men all look quite different, but each of their attention is drawn at the woman – two of them out of shock and the other two out of sympathy – as the woman cries her eyes out.
The woman has a pale skin color, which contrasts strongly with her wavy black hair reaching down to her armpits and her dark eyes with long, wavy eyelashes. The man next to her has thick brown-red hair that is curly and lies on top of his head, reaching to just below his ears and his dark brown eyes look at the woman in pained sympathy.
The man at the head of the table can barely be described as human as he has a pale, chalk-white skin, snakelike nose thrills and blood red eyes with cat-like pupils inside them. This man too is looking at the woman in sympathy, which greatens the shock of the other two males and lets them look at each other in shocked wonder.
The man on the left, next to the white-skinned man and opposite of the woman, has greasy black hair that lies all the way down to float just above his shoulders and his pale complexion is, like with the woman, strengthened by the dark color of his hair and his dark brownish black eyes are currently looking at his companion in barely concealed confusion.
His companion in question is the only one with paleblond hair and still, like his partners, he has a pale complexion and a straight face with pointed chin. The man's blond hair reaches down to his upper arms and his grey eyes are obviously trying to see if his black-haired companion knows anymore of why the woman is crying.

The woman then sniffs: "What have I done? What on earth? How could it? He – he wasn't supposed to die! He was supposed to part with Harry, not push the boy away from my spell! I wanted them apart! Apart, so Dumbledore wouldn't further target their relationship! He wasn't supposed to die! WHAT HAVE I DONE?"
She screams and the brown haired man quickly hugs her with a tendency that further shocks the two men opposite them. Then the pale man speaks and with a calming voice he says: "You need not to worry, Lily. I already suspected Dumbledore would undo of Sirius this way, so I made sure nothing in that Department could kill anyone."
The three men and woman look at him and he says: "You see, Nagini might not have been able to locate the Prophesy last Christmas, but she was clever enough to tell me something else of the same interest. It seems that the Department Rooms act quite alike to the Room of Requirement stationed at Hogwarts school.
At the Room if you want a certain something, you walk past the wall with your mind firmly on what you want three times. The Rooms of the Department are quite alike and the doors there hold the same magic. So how could Harry and his friends reach the Death Chamber if they obviously wanted to escape the Department?"

The woman seems shocked, as if she understands what the pale man is implying and she growls: "Dumbledore." The man she looks at nods and says: "Dumbledore. I have, from reliable source, heard that Dumbledore spoke of Sirius and, and I quote, how convenient the Crouch-Black feud was working on Sirius' impatience.
He obviously locked Sirius up in the one place he would have nothing to do but remember the night he lost everything and then, to be surrounded by everything that reminds him of his terrible youth, combined with his own natural need to help his friends and loved ones and that Feud working on his mind and nerves – it was all planned, my dear."

Now both the woman and her partner still holding her look beyond furious and then the pale man at the head pulls a pale blue potion out of his black cloak and slides it over the table to the reddish brown haired man, saying: "James, take this and go to Harry's house. Then cast the spell Slyteri Mortue Transi on his bedroom door. It's the same spell I put on the Veil of Death and it will, if Harry leaves his room, transport him to a saver location."
The man nods, stands up, bows to the pale man and kisses the woman on the cheek before leaving the small room. The pale man then turns to the woman and says: "Lily, dry your tears and return to your potions. We need to find an antidote to that everlasting Polyjuice Potion you and James are wearing if we want to continue our plans."
The woman nods and bows as well to which the pale man says: "Oh, and inform James that he has to put an illusion spell on himself. We can't have Dumbledore's spies recognize him." The woman smiles and leaves. Over and over the other two men share shocked and confused glances with each other and finally the pale man turns to them and says:
"Severus, please aid your long time friend in her search. I'm afraid her combination of Potions and Charms talents are working a little too well." This makes the man named Severus look shocked and he asks: "Potions and Charms talents. My Lord – was that – is Bellatrix really – is she?" But the man seems unable to end his question and Voldemort asks:
"Lily Potter under an Everlasting Polyjuice Potion that is working overtime? Yes, Severus, yes indeed. And Rodolphus is really James Potter, who was so kind as to, two weeks after his son's first birthday, inform me of the true deaths of my two most loyal friends, Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, tortured to death by Albus Dumbledore."

Severus and his friend share a shocked glance and the blonde asks: "My Lord, how – how were they – how did Dumbledore kill them?" Voldemort sighs, making the two share another shocked glance and says: "If I have to go by what James told me, it was a death even crueler than my Darkest forms of magic, my friends.
Apparently on Harry's birthday, Dumbledore attacked the Lestranges, making Bella bleed badly and forcing Rodolphus to carry her to the woods. There Dumbledore caught up with them and cast 3 quick Bone Crushing spells on Rodolphus's legs, so quick and so strong they completely obliterated his left upper and lower leg and his left kneecap.
Rodolphus fell and asked what Dumbledore was doing as it is apparently a Hollow Law not to attack a fellow Hollow citizen no matter what side of a war you are on. Dumbledore then told them they were in the way for his plans concerning young Harry – obviously having to do with the Prophesy – and that the Greater Good had to prevail.
James didn't trust those plans as he had not heard of any plans of Dumbledore's concerning his son himself and then he saw the man throw away Bella and Rodolphus's wands before casting Non-verbal Pressure spells on their ribcage. These slowly pressed their ribcages onto and through their organs and then he left.
James knew he was not strong enough to go against Dumbledore's strongest spells, his non-verbal spellwork and so he faked to agree with Dumbledore's suggestion of the Fidelius and then let Peter bring himself and Lily to me. This happened 2 ½ months before they went down under and a week before they did they reached through my insanity.
We planned and planned and agreed we would let Dumbledore have his way until Harry's 16th birthday and then, together with Harry and his partner chosen by the Potter Curse, James explained this one to me, quite interesting really, we would destroy Dumbledore's credibility and then fight to let the world believe in Caring Light and Strong Darkness."

Severus and the other man look at each other shocked and Severus asks: "My Lord, what exactly is the Potter curse?" And Voldemort says: "It is apparently a gene that resides in all Potter men and that makes every 3 out of 4 Potters between 15 and 16 years old fall for a redhead that is, by destiny, by magic and by personality, absolutely perfect for them."
Severus looks shocked and asks: "And Potter Senior was under that too?" Voldemort nods and Severus sighs and says: "So Lily was never supposed to be mine. Her entire being was not just perfect in my eyes but for Potter too." And the man hangs his head down, only to snap it up in pure shock when he feels Voldemort pat him on the shoulder.
The gesture is obviously comforting and the blond man, having noticed the gesture, says: "My – My Lord!" To which Voldemort says: "Calm yourself, Lucius. Lily and James have been talking to me over and over again these last 5 months and just like before my defeat have they been successful in giving me back my sanity."

The two men nod and then Severus asks: "My Lord, what really happened? That Halloween night, I mean?" The white man sighs and while Severus whitens slightly does Voldemort say: "I knew how much it meant for Bella and Rodolphus to be killed by no one but me, it was a dream they confided in me shortly before their deaths.
And so I turned them into Inferi and Lily induced them with a Polyjuice Potion that would last 2 weeks. On Halloween Night James, Lily and Peter helped me through the wards before Lily and James said goodbye to their son and gave him a little bit of their family magic. I then killed Bella and Rodolphus, but I never intended to kill Harry."

The two men look shocked and Voldemort says: "The Prophesy speaks of a boy with the Power to defeat the Dark Lord and James told me it said one would die by the hand of the other. But Potters are immortal until their 21st birthday, so only if forces as strong as Dumbledore would interfere would I be able to kill Harry.
Yet, for the sake of our plans and out of gratitude of Lily and James getting me my sanity back, did I keep my choice on Harry and so we knew Dumbledore would make Harry his vulnerable, weak little weapon, intended only to weaken, but not kill me, so that Harry would die a hero, Dumbledore would kill me and keep the fame he's had all these years.

James and Lily each made sure Harry had some of their family magic, Lily's making sure I could not kill Harry incase I lost my sanity again and James' making sure part of him would always be with Harry, thus explaining Harry's Patronus form. They then left and I decided to see if Dumbledore had already done a number on Harry.
I cast a power revelation spell, combining it with a life aging spell and the combination of that showed me how much Light power Harry would have in the future. But that Light Power got in contact with the Dark Power of the Killing curse residue that was still in the room and that caused an explosion strong enough to destroy my body."
The man sighs and says: "And unfortunately was my travel past the way of immortality a little too far. I had created too many Horcruxes – vessels in which I keep parts of my soul – and so my soul was too badly shattered to handle such an explosion of opposite powers. My soul further cracked, causing my insanity to return, and part of it –

Now resides in Harry's scar."

The two men whiten in fear and Severus says: "But – but My Lord, if that's true – and – and if Dumbledore knows of this – then surely he will – he will –." And Voldemort ends: "Let Harry kill himself, yes. That is why I wanted Harry's blood. So that his blood in my body would tie him to this world would Dumbledore's plan succeed."
Color returns to the men's faces and then Voldemort turns stern and says: "Severus, Lucius, you are now part of our plans. But we discovered that Dumbledore has two very loyal lackeys and part of our plan is letting him know we are onto his real plans, the plans he hides behind his acts of being a grandfather like saint.
I need you two to pick these two up and wait with them here until James returns. Then we will reside in a more comfortable and – for Dumbledore unpredictable – location. After all, the old coot is not the only one who can hide out in the house of the enemy." His two companions grin evilly and Lucius asks: "Who are we to get, My Lord?"
And Voldemort says: "Molly and Ginny Weasley." Shocking the two and Lucius asks: "Ginny Weasley? Again her?" Voldemort nods and says: "Yes. Apparently her Boy Who Lived Crush has diminished over the years and she is now willing to feed Harry a Jealousy Potion, ensnare him and get his kid before Dumbledore kills him.
All she and Molly want are to be seen as the heroes of the Potter line and through that get access to the Potter fortune. They care nothing for Harry, but for the sake of Harry falling for Ginny they pretend that they do. That needs to stop and it needs to stop now." The two men nod, stand up and say as one: "Count on us, My Lord." Before bowing to the white man and leaving the room, already silently discussing all kinds of plans.