Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and can't get money for this, but I can make him into a Mafia Prince.
Warning: Some chapters (the ones including pranks and mimes) might not be appropriate to read at work. Laughter may ensue leading your co-workers to see you as even more insane than they previously thought.
Chapter 1: In Peril
Molly Weasley paced back and forth in agitation. She was worried, truly worried, and didn't know who to get in touch with for help. Charlie was off in Romania at the dragon reserve and Bill was out on a job for Gringotts somewhere. The rest of the children were gone from home as well, staying with Harry and Blaise for a few days. Brushing back tears Molly continued to pace before she suddenly halted. Trevor Zabini! Even though the man had been a Slytherin, Arthur trusted him and the man would know something that could be done. With decisive steps now, Molly moved towards the living room fireplace and grabbed up the small sack of floo powder. Kneeling upon the floor the Weasley matron took out a small pinch of the powder and threw it into the fire before she could hesitate.
Sticking her head into the now green flames, Molly shouted, "Trevor Zabini!"
Molly closed her eyes against the swirling green flames, only opening them again in time to see a startled young man standing in front of the fire. The man looked as if he had seen a ghost, his eyes wide with fright as he began to shake.
"T-t-t-trevor," the man whimpered before the name became a full blown yell as he bolted from the room, "TREVOR!"
Minutes later Molly was starting to think that this had been a very bad idea when Trevor came into the room, preceded by the young man she had startled. The man was babbling about green fire bursting out of nowhere and heads appearing in the fire. Trevor calmly took in the scene before pulling his wand and obliviating the young man as he moved in front of the fire to block Molly's face from sight.
"That'll be fine, Alex," Trevor told the young man who was new to the Darkov guards, and pretty damn hopeless, "if you feel you aren't cut out for this line of work then we won't keep you here. We'll mail you a check in a few days for what work you did do. Dismissed."
Once Alex was gone, Trevor turned to crouch down in front of the fire so that he was eye level with Molly, all the while cursing that he had made the decision to have a fire on one of the main levels hooked up to the floo.
"What is it Molly," Trevor asked, "do you need the children home?"
"No," her voice trembled, "oh Merlin, I didn't know who else to come to. Merlin. Can—can you floo over? Please Trevor."
Trevor didn't have the heart to refuse the obviously distraught woman and rose to his feet, "I'll be over in a moment. Move back away from the fireplace."
When Trevor landed Molly wasn't standing in the living room, but he could see her in the kitchen standing in front of a grandfather clock. Molly didn't speak until he was standing right next to her.
"It's been like that for at least half an hour," her voice trembled and Trevor looked at the clock, his gaze sweeping over each hand with a name lovingly engraved upon each one.
Arthur Weasley's hand lay shivering upon mortal peril.
Arthur had long ago stopped feeling pain, instead now he was lost in his memories. He remembered each child's birth, the first time each of his children had flown, the days when Bill and Charlie graduated, the twins pulling their first prank, he remembered every smile, every cheeky smirk of the twins, and he remembered the warmth of Molly's arms that greeted him every time he came home. He wouldn't make it home this time. Arthur involuntarily flinched as yet another mark was carved into his flesh, perhaps he was not yet quite past feeling pain. In agony Arthur turned his head towards the far corner of the room. There huddled Lucius Malfoy. Arthur had never seen the man so disheveled or afraid, if he himself were not upon his deathbed he would have laughed in triumph. Arthur freely acknowledged that he had made a mistake coming to confront Lucius Malfoy about slipping Ginny the enchanted diary last year. He would pay for that mistake with his life.
"L-love y-you Bill, Ch-char-lie, Perc-yyy, Fred, Gg-george, Ron, Ginny, Mo-molly, Arthur managed to stammer out, his words almost unheard of beneath the dark chant filling the room around him.
Back at the Burrow the golden hand inscribed with Arthur's name game a final shudder before turning black.
"Noooo," Molly wailed and collapsed into darkness, Trevor just managing to catch the distraught woman before her head hit the floor.
After a moment's hesitation, Trevor carefully lifted the now-widowed woman into his arms and headed back to the fireplace. Somehow managing to get the floo powder into the fireplace without jostling Molly too much, Trevor stepped into the green flames with his burden.
"Darkov Manor, basement," Trevor shouted and was sucked away into the spinning vortex.
Thankfully the basement was empty when he arrived and Trevor had no problem sneaking Molly into one of the upstairs guest rooms before searching out Bill. He finally found the eldest Weasley son on duty and prowling the perimeter near the front gate.
"Hey Trevor," Bill suddenly choked down the rest of his happy greeting at the sight of Trevor's face and instead settled for, "what happened?"
Trevor shook his head slightly, indicating that it was best to wait before going into anything, "you need to get a hold of your brother, use one of the portkeys if you need to. Have him come home. I'll round up the rest of the children and we'll meet in Manuel's study."
Given the grave urgency in Trevor's bearing, it didn't take everyone long to gather into Manuel's study. Thankfully Charlie had been easily found at the reserve and there had been no problem with him taking a leave of absence and portkeying back to the Darkov Manor with Bill. Of course, the worse part fell to Trevor who had to tell the Weasley children that their father was dead.
Trevor had no more than just finished telling his news to the grief-stricken Weasley's when a wail full of suffering shattered the stillness that had seemed to fall over the house.
A wail of rage echoed throughout the Malfoy Mansion.
"What happened," the voice screamed again "why did the ritual fail?"
"The ritual did not fail," a silky voice said from the shadows.
"You said the blood of an enemy would be stronger than the blood of a servant and that I would regain my body."
"I said no such thing," the silky voice was chilly now with impatience, "I told you that you would regain a body. In order to regain your body a more complicated ritual needs to be performed; one involving blood, flesh, and bone."
The shadowy being attached to the silky voice suddenly moved to the bloody body marked with lines from its dagger and with a wave of its hand the smell of burnt flesh was heard as the wound marks were cauterized.
"What are you doing," the first voice yelled again as the shadowy being lifted the naked corpse and began to glide from the room, "you can't just leave me here, not like this!"
"No," the Being conceded as he returned, "I cannot. But before we leave I wish to return this body. Did you not hear at the end the names it called out? To give it back is the least I can do. I will come back for you when I have finished. My master Malal has invested much in your survival Voldemort, your debt to him is great. He will not tolerate a second failure from you."
Voldemort brushed this aside, he had never planned on repaying the debt he owed to Malal, not that Malal's acolyte needed to know that, "I understand all that, but I wish to leave here quickly. Where is my wand? I will need to kill Lucius before we leave, he has seen too much."
"No," the acolyte denied Voldemort, "he will not die today. This man may very well prove important in the future and will not dare speak a word of what he saw here today. Malal will not allow his plans to be ruined by a mere mortal. I will seal within his mind all that happened today, he cannot be allowed to forget it completely."
The deed done, the acolyte lifted the disfigured child Voldemort had been reborn as and left the Malfoy Manor, a giant snake following after them through the void that opened before the acolyte.
Hides behind Harry and a squad of Daggers. At least I didn't kill off Manuel, Blaise, or Trevor. No killing the author!
Posted On: August 29, 2005
Edit Posted On: February 15, 2006