It was Friday afternoon, the day the Hogwarts year ended and students returned to their homes. Lucius Malfoy had picked up his son personally. Draco was his heir and he loved him dearly but since he entered school he had felt as if there had formed a distance between them. Draco used to tell him everything but more often then not his letters were short and centered around schoolwork more then anything else. It was seldom that he learned of anything politically important going on. He was especially curious about the Raven figure who seemed to have this much influence on Slytherin house. All of it had to have to do with the mysterious Charles Potter, he was certain of it. He didn't like that his own son kept secrets from him and he didn't like that he didn't know what role the young Potter played in all of this.

He had hoped that Draco would invite the boy to visit over the holidays again. He had but apparently, Potter had declined because he had other plans already. Even if he was a powerful figure in Slytherin house, there should be no ally more powerful then a Malfoy. To be declined like that was an insult!

But for some reason Draco hadn't been angry at all. He hadn't been disappointed either, just accepted the decision.

Lucius growled quietly as he stepped out of the fireplace and dropped his coat on a house elf. Draco asked if he could fly outside. Lucius just nodded and left for his study.

For half an hour he went through his mail and dealt with his work at the ministry. He was just about to call it a day when suddenly a sharp pain shot up his arm.

Lucius hissed and grabbed his forearm. A moment later his eyes widened in surprise as he realized the implications of that particular pain. Panicked he rolled up his sleeve and looked in shock down at the ugly red mark. It had faded to being nearly invisible over the years. There had been no indication at all... But he knew that pain. Lucius was being summoned.

The dark wizard wasted no time. Being late would mean being dead soon. Hurriedly he transformed his robes into black clothing and conjured himself a white skull-like mask that he put on. He wrote a note for Narcissa telling her he was away for the night. Then with a trembling hand he pressed the tip of his wand against the mark. A moment later he felt the familiar pull of a portkey.

Soon Lucius found himself in a spacious entrance hall. As was usual from the old days he had no idea where he was. However nobody seemed to be present except for a small house elf.

"Minny is welcoming the visitor, Sir", the little elf said and bowed politely. "You are being awaited in the hall. You are also being asked to remove your mask, Sir."

Feeling more confused with every moment Lucius vanished the mask. "Who's waiting for me?", he asked, hating how his voice trembled.

"The Master is waiting, Sir."

That wasn't very informative coming from a house elf.

Lucius followed the little elf and was lead through a few corridors into another big room. As soon as he came closer the air went cold. A terrible sinking feeling filled his stomach. Then he rounded the corner and came face to face with two dementors hovering in the air. Lucius had his wand drawn in a second, but the creatures didn't attack him. Instead they shed away from him and opened the double winged door for him. Lucius was so shocked he forgot to close his mouth for a second.

In the hall beyond there was a long table. Behind it Lucius could see a banner decorating the walls, almost like a flag. It showed a great serpent, threatening looking down at the persons sitting at the table. It reminded him of the serpent of the Dark Mark but this one wasn't curled around a skull. It wasn't a normal snake either. This one sported two great black wings, each feather painted in detail.

At the table a most unusual collection of people could be seen. At the head sat a man around thirty years of age with black, messy short hair and brown eyes that was practically a doppelganger of the deceased James Potter. Next to him sat a teenager who looked like he could be the son of the first. His shoulder length hair was more brown then black and his eyes darker though. On his left side Lucius recognized Sirius Black of all people. For a fugitive he seemed to be incredibly well off and healthy. Lucius knew of course of his history. He was still unsure if his Lord had not trusted him enough to tell him of Blacks position as a spy or if the whole thing was one big misunderstanding and Black was really innocent.

Next to Black sat no other then Charles Potter, who was scowling at him. Lucius felt the urge to murder something.

Across from Potter sat another teenager. He too had black hair and brown eyes but his facial structure was a different one from the two at the head. He also seemed colder or maybe hiding his anger while he stared at the boy across from him. On his left side sat a man around forty with tired eyes, an inconspicuous face framed with light brown hair who looked like he would like to be anywhere but here. The seat between him and the Potter-doppelganger at the front was empty.

That same man now stood and welcomed Lucius with a fake smile.

"Ah, there is our last guest. Please Mr Malfoy, take your seat."

"What is he doing here?", Black growled and looked at Lucius in disgust.

"I'd like to know that too", Potter murmured.

"Everything will be explained in due time", the man said.

Scanning the group of people Lucius stepped closer carefully. He didn't understand what was going on. He had been called here by his mark. Nobody but the Lord could control the mark, he was certain of it. Where was he then? Why was Potter of all people here? Except maybe it was a trap for him?

"I feel like introductions are in order", the black haired man said. "I am the Raven and I will be the host of this meeting tonight. This", he gestured to his left, "is my nephew Lestat, who kindly invited Mr Charles Potter. Although we are from different branches of the same family I think we should all work together to reach our common goals." The Raven nodded to his right. "Also there is my good friend and business partner Nekrys and his apprentice Marvolo. Lastly we have Sirius Black who all of you have probably met already. Lucius Malfoy, a prominent figure of the British ministry, will complete our group. Please, take your seat."

Scowling at the Raven, Lucius complied. "What is the meaning of this?", he wanted to know.

The Raven ignored him. "Now that we're all assembled it's time for a few shocking revelations. We are all going to work together in the future. There are so many secrets and lies between all of you that I feel we have to lay some common ground. Let's start with this." He let his gaze travel over all the persons present, looking everyone into the eye at least once. "I told you the name of everybody present but even some of those names are fake. It is however what we will refer to to each other. One of us though is being known under a name you all know. I will not tell you who it is. It could be anybody. It could be nobody. He could be hiding in a corner invisible. He could be using polyjuice. He could even possess another person. It could be me playing with your heads. I will only say this much: One of us... is Lord Voldemort."

For one, two seconds shocked silence was all there was. Then chaos broke out.

Potter was on his feet, asking what the hell they were playing at. Black promptly shoved him away so that he could cover him with his body and drew his wand, trying to keep track of the Raven and Lucius simultaneously. Lestat shook his head in silent laughter. Nekrys banged his head against the table, muttering about what he had done to deserve this while his apprentice had his wand drawn, looking around suspiciously.

"Guys, calm down", the Raven laughed. "Merlin, you should see your faces. I promise, nobody will be tortured tonight."

"Lestat!", Potter called furiously. "If this is you revenge for-"

"It's not, I promise", the teenager said, rolling his eyes. "I know how this look, but would you just calm down for a minute? It's not a trap and I'm not intending to kill you. We're allies, remember?"

Potter snorted. "No, we never were. You used me to raise your little club. Then when I wanted out you had me thrown into bloody Azkaban!"

"What!?", Black screamed and now we was pointing his wand at Lestat. "You did this to him!?"

"Mr Black, I have to ask you to lower your wand", the Raven said sharply. "That goes for all of you. It's not as if it would do you any good. This hall is protected by wards. No magic can be cast between these walls."

"We're off", Black declared and laid a hand on Potters shoulder. "It was stupid to ever think... Come Charles, we have to leave-"

"No", Potter answered and shook off his hand angrily. "I damn well think I deserve an explanation."

"I think I'd like for someone to explain too", Marvolo growled, piecing Lestat with a deadly stare.

Lestat sighed and stood. "And you will have your explanation – if you just listen to me. I'm a student at Hogwarts and like so many others I have noticed the decay of my generation. The discrimination of magical creatures, dark wizards and muggleborns is severely cutting down on our possibilities as a community to reach our full potential. There are so many things wrong with this world that could be fixed if there was just a competent leader uniting the oppressed forces. Europe had two Dark Lords just in the last century and still society hasn't learned from their mistakes. None of the deficits they tried to get rid of have changed. I believe that to a great part that is because the only way they thought to go about it is war. However they don't have a nation behind them and dark wizards will never be the majority. That is why society sees them as the enemy and fights everything they propose, even if it would be a good change. I believe that it would be best if this time we approached the subject from two sides. We need a war to unite people, to wake them up from their peaceful sleep and show them the ugliness of the world. They will want to fight and all we have to do is direct that will into the right direction. We have to make sure the political changes they enable in order to fight against evil are being controlled by us." He looked over at Lucius. "The Dark Lord fought the magical society for so long and with such ferocity that barely anyone remembers why people followed him in the first place. They didn't do it so they could kill and torture muggles. They did it so no magical knowledge ever got lost because families died out. They did it so that muggles could never get away with hurting a witch or wizard. They did it so we were allowed of using our natural advantages to make money even if it meant erasing a few memories or letting a few muggles lose their jobs. They did it so our government would never have to consider the muggles' presidents wishes when writing down our law.

Yes, we are superior to muggles. But we won't stay so for long, not with their technology advancing as fast as it does. The ministry is doing nothing to support young inventors or spell creators. Research in the healing department has basically been standing still for years now. If people won't keep up with their development to fight against muggles, then maybe they'll do so facing the nameless horror of a Dark Lord. But if we want to do this we will need help. We will need the help of all those lone dark wizards who have the ambition to research new magics but no way to publish them." He looked pointedly at Nekrys, then at Black: "We will need the support of oppressed magical races who will both fight for us and show the world exactly what's wrong with it." He looked at Lucius, then at Marvolo. "We will need people within the ministry, recruits from school such as Durmstrang and", his gaze wandered to Charles, "most importantly we will need the next generation to believe that changing the way they think and live is the best they could do to oppose the threat of the Dark Lord. That's why I called you here, Charles. When we first met I told you I wanted to change the world order and that I needed you help. You asked me what was in it for you and I told you you could ask for a favor. At the end of your second year you said you never wanted to go back to your muggle relatives again. You said you wanted to have a family. I invited you in to the Raven clan but I knew you needed more then that. That is why I sent you to Azkaban. Was that not where you found your godfather? It was me who arranged for you to meet him there."
"I..." Potter seemed at a loss of words. He looked at Black with uncertainty. Lucius wasn't sure if it was a brilliant move to make Potter fall for a Death Eater or a stupid risk to provide him with a powerful protector who had been innocent all along.

"He's talking bullshit, Charles!", Black shouted. "Let's leave, you're not safe here."
"But Sirius... I believe him."
"You what!?"
"The things he said... Don't tell me you never thought that. That this world is rotten. We know that there's a war coming no matter what. But if we had a chance to make something good out of it..."

"You're overlooking one tiny detail", the other teenager, Marvolo, interrupted them. "That is the Dark Lord himself."
"I can't believe", Nekrys growled, shooting a glare at the Raven, "That someone was seriously stupid enough to put You-know-who and a Potter brat in the same room! Tell me you've been kidding. I'm surprised everyone's still in one piece."
"He's not kidding", Lucius said before he could help himself. Everyone looked at him. "I'm sure of it."

"You sure would know, damn Death Eater!", Black accused and now pointed his wand at him. For the first time fear showed on his face.

Lucius in turn now regarded every person a second time and wondered who of them might be his Lord. The old wizard who had practically been introduced as a dark wizard? No, he was looking to tired and uncomfortable. The Raven? Too obvious. Was it Potter who was really being possessed by Lord Voldemorts spirit? If so he was putting on a good show. Maybe he didn't even know it himself? Black was acting all wrong to be a Death Eater, much less a disguised Dark Lord. The two teenagers were both too young anyway and with them going to school there would have been no way for his Lord to get to them to take their identities.

"The Dark Lord can't be here", Potter reasoned. "If he were he would've killed me by now."
"Except if you were the Dark Lord", Nekrys muttered.

"What?!", shouted Black, "That's ridiculous!"

"Actually, it's not", Marvolo said. "If we do presume that the Dark Lord isn't dead, that he managed to survive even though his body was destroyed the the Potter twins would have been the only living beings a weakened spirit could latch onto."
"What the hell!? Do I look like a Dark Lord to you!?"

Lestat burst out laughing. "Sorry Charles, but you kind of do."

"Not helping, Les."

"Even if it's not him", Marvolo continued, "the Dark Lord wouldn't have any reason to kill him if he joined his cause, would he?"

Lestat nodded. "That's what we're here for."

"None of us is going to join You-know-who!", Black insisted.

"Not You-know-who", Lestat corrected him, "but his cause. War must not be the method but a distraction to reach the ultimate goal. It's irrelevant whenever you fight with or against us as long as you just fight."

The Raven addressed Black: "You've been working under me for months now. The army will move sooner or later and it will move against Britain. The only question is if you'd rather fight your friends and students or if you want to lead them and control exactly how much damage they deal and who will be hurt in it."

Lucius looked around wildly. An army? There was already an army being formed? And did that mean that maybe the Raven was indeed the Lord?

Black seemed to be conflicted for a moment.

"I can't promise you that your friends from that Order won't be hurt. Even if I told the men to avoid them most wouldn't know when they're faced with them. If you fight against them you can show them mercy. We don't want good people to die. We want them to fight. We even want them to win. But the pawns and the foot soldiers can't know that and as such we need someone who believes in the cause to lead them."
"But... Charles-"
"Charles is one of the boys-who-lived", Lestat continued. "But he was framed with murder once already. He can never be the hero of the light. He can never fight for the light and be happy there. They would never accept him."
"But they would accept Harry", Charles threw in. "They would make him a hero and Moldyshorts would do everything in his power to kill him." He stepped forward, ignoring Black who wanted to shield him. "Harry is all I have left from my family and I won't let him die. He would never join this cause. He'd fight for the light because he believes in it. I don't. So I'll make a deal."

Nobody seemed to be sure what to say for a moment. "What kind of deal?", Lucius asked finally.

"I'll join the cause. I'll be your anti-hero and I'll bring with me as many students as I can. But in exchange Harry is to be left alone. We'll tell everyone that I, and I alone have the right to kill him."
"Harry!"
"Let me finish!", Potter snapped at Black. "Whoever encounters him should only ever attempt to capture him. That way he won't be Moldyshorts arch enemy, he will be mine. Let the press and everyone know it. With me as his opponent Harry won't be as much of a hero as if he's the one everyone hopes will kill the Dark Lord."

"But what would you do if he was actually caught?", Black worried.

"I'll just blame an incredible stupid prison ward for letting him flee, come on, that's really not the problem!" He turned back to Lestat. "Harry really isn't a big threat. He's a weakling and really stupid too. Take away his fame and he's harmless."

"Sounds like a good plan", Nekrys said. "But how are we supposed to know if the Dark Lord accepts it when he won't reveal himself?"
"Oh, that's easy", the Raven meant. "We'll just vote on it until everyone is happy. I'm for it."

Lestat nodded. "Me too. It's an acceptable price."

"Can't you just tell us who it is?", Nekrys asked the Raven.

"Nope. I don't know it myself. I was just told by someone who I don't think is the Dark Lord himself although I suppose I couldn't be sure, that he would be present today."
"This is a load of bullshit!", Black said angrily. "Charles, you shouldn't even have to think about fighting in a war, much less against your brother!"

"This is the best way to keep him safe, don't you see that!? I want to fight. I want to change the world and I don't care what other people think about me. That said I'm perfect for the job."
"But we're talking about You-know-who! He killed your parents!"
"Parents I barely knew. I'm sorry but I don't think of them as my family. Harry is my family. You are my family. Hell, even the Ravens could be considered family. If I'm going to risk my life I want to risk it for people I care about."

"Charles..."

"I'm for it. Are you with me or not?"

Black straightened his back. "If that's what you chose... I promised you I'd fight by your side and I won't back out just because things get complicated."

"Thank you, Sirius."
"Wonderful. Any more votes?", the Raven chimed.

Nekrys shrugged. "I don't even know what I'm doing here. Do what you want."

"I suppose one could go with that", Marvolo agreed.

Everyone looked at Lucius. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to believe I'm the Dark Lord if I say no?"

The Raven promptly returned the look. "Are you going to risk it?"

Lusius sighed. "No... Of course I'm not." He shuddered at the thought of his Lord finding out he had pretended to be him.

"Splendid. Harry, welcome to the team."

"Forgive me if I don't cry in joy..."

"Since when are we a team?", Nekrys wanted to know. "I don't think I ever joined a club to take over a country. I'm not even British myself. I thought I was a guest here. Since when am I on your side?"

"Since you started to believe that it would be absolutely no problem for me to sneak into your room at night and murder you in your sleep if you didn't agree to belong to us", the Raven reminded him helpfully.

Nekrys gave a nervous smile. "Right. I remember." He looked as if he wanted to bang his head against the table again. Hard.

"Then what are we supposed to do now? Who's giving the orders?", Black asked challengingly.

"Well, obviously", Marvolo intoned, "the first step would be to build an army. I believe that was your job?"

Black grimaced but nodded.

"But aside from food soldiers we also have to get more experienced wizards and witches and we have to begin to infiltrate the ministry."
"The minister already does whatever I say", Lucius offered.

"That may be but everyone with half a brain knows you're a Death Eater", Potter threw back at him.

"I suppose if it was that obvious to you, then you're right", Lucius replied scathingly.

"You should still recruit the rest of the Death Eaters that are still free, especially those that have never been suspected", the Raven said.

"Except for Snape!", Potter interrupted immediately.

Black turned around to him. "What!? Snape is a Death Eater!?"

"One that has the trust of Albus Dumbledore...", Lucius said scowling.

"Dumbledore is dead, remember?" Potter shook his head vehemently. "Not Snape! Anybody but him! I don't trust him. I don't even think he works for one side, he's a double agent who only looks out for himself."
"But-"
"Hey, for all you know, I could be your Lord, right? We said if somebody was absolutely against an idea we wouldn't do it because we couldn't know who's the big boss out of all of us."

For a moment there was silence.

"He does have a point...", the Raven muttered.

"Fine then, not Severus. Anyone else you don't want to know?"
"Well, I sure as hell don't want anybody outside of this room to know that I work with a Dark Lord. As for the big plan, you should avoid Crabbe and Goyle. If they're anything like their sons they'll be the weak spot of the organization."

Lucius didn't like being given orders, he didn't like it one bit. Especially not from some brat like Potter. But he was right, he couldn't know who his Lord was and not telling those three wouldn't kill him.

"They will demand some kind of proof that the Lord is back, though", he said.

"The Death Eaters will still be the Dark Lords personal unit", Lestat thought aloud. "I don't think either of them would allow anything less. Therefore he would have to show himself to them sooner rather then later anyway."
The Raven nodded. "Just wait until you get summoned. But even so we can already start to plan the next step."
"That is?"
"Breaking into Azkaban and freeing all the Death Eaters that are still there."

Black shook his head. "Are you crazy? We can't break into Azkaban!"
"Says the only guy to ever break out...", Charles scoffed.

"No, really! That is different. You can't get that many people past the dementors."
"Except when the dementos are working with us", Lucius said, remembering the guards at the door who, as he was now sure, had only been there to show off some power.

But Lestat shook his head. "I want the ministry to have the worst reputation ever once we step up. Black's escape was great but a violent mass-breakout will cause a national panic. We wouldn't attack further, we have to get the prisoners back in shape after all. The people will calm down but their trust in the government will be shaken. That gives us time to build a strong army and infiltrate at the same time."

"Let me get this straight", Nekrys repeated. "We have the dementors working for us, we could probably bribe the rest of the guards but instead of, I don't know, going in, replacing the prisoners with polyjuiced dead muggles one after another and walking out again we're going to blow up the whole place, cast a Dark Mark over it and loudly proclaim the start of our war even though we don't want to actually start it?"
Silence.

"Yeah, that's about right."

"You're nuts. Both of you", the necromancer said and pointed at the two Raven.

"Seriously, Nekrys", Potter said, "who would ever follow a leader who wanted to overthrow the government if said leader wasn't crazy? He would have to be in order to try that!"

"Point taken", Black murmured.

"Then it's decided", Lestat said with an evil smirk and a crazy glint in his eyes that made Lucius think about taking the necromancer's side. "We're going to break into Azkaban!"

Hi folks!

So this is the end of the fanfic. I hope you enjoyed it. The next one in line is called "Tell no one" (duh) and is now online. I hope to hear from you again soon!

Haxong