195 CHAPTER {279-281}

****TRAITOROUS-FRIEND-INDEED (II)****

~~Hogsmeade, Scottish Highlands~~

Peter Pettigrew arrived outside the Hogsmeade village with a loud crack and started at the village wistfully before his gaze finally shifted toward the silhouette of Hogwarts in the distance… He sniffed mournfully as he started to reminisce about his school days. Those were the days. He missed those simple days.

He would admit that he only became a part of the Marauders because they were the biggest meanies around and he knew that they would keep him safe, but by the time he graduated from Hogwarts, he started to enjoy their company. He would have preferred if everything remained the same, but it was never to be.

The Dark Lord was on the rise and Peter knew in which direction the wind was blowing… Peter was loyal to the Marauders, but his loyalty was mainly tied to his own security. Later, when he realized that the Dark Lord was probably going to win, he went running to him, so that he could join the Ranks of the Death Eaters.

Peter was Pureblood even if their Family was not in the major leagues, so he knew that they were going to welcome him. However, that wasn't all, he was also a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and when he revealed that he wanted to become a spy for them while receiving his Mark from the Dark Lord himself, he was welcomed into the fold.

Everything was going well for him… The Dark Lord was winning, the Ministry was barely managing to hold on, but then the disaster struck… The Dark Lord was defeated by a year old babe… Peter was so angry that he wanted to kill the boy himself, but he knew that he needed to escape and he also knew that the Dark Lord was not dead, not truly.

He had seen the disembodied Dark Lord escape through the roof, so he quickly grabbed the Dark Lord's Wand and decided to escape…

Now the Dark Lord was back once again… Peter winced at the reminder of ghost pains. He had been regularly treated with the Cruciatus Curse and he wasn't getting used to the pain no matter how many times the Dark Lord used the Curse on him. Sometimes, he wondered if it was really wise of him to join the Dark Lord or not.

He stared at the silver prosthetic hand… Yes, it was a fully functional hand, but it lacked the sense of touch. Peter knew that the loss of sense of touch in one of his hands didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but he felt like he had lost a part of himself. Well, now it was too late to reconsider the choices he made in his life.

The Dark Lord was a cruel and sadistic man who reveled in the suffering of others and Peter was all for it if his survival was assured, but now the Dark Lord couldn't even beat a 14 year old boy… Peter wanted to drop everything and escape to some corner of the world, but the Mark on his arm made it impossible for him to escape the clutches of the Dark Lord.

The Dark Lord would find him and then the Dark Lord would punish him… That was a fate Peter wanted to avoid at any cost…

With no other choice, he simply released a sigh and started to shift into his Animagus form. He knew that he simply couldn't stroll into Hogsmeade as he was still a wanted man and he clearly noticed two Auror teams patrolling the village. The village wasn't small, so he would be able to slip past them without much difficulty, but he didn't want to take any chances.

After giving Hogsmeade another look, Peter in his rat form started to scuttle toward Hogwarts as he decided to move past the village instead of making his way through it. The Dark Lord had given him the mission to acquire an artifact from the Come and Go Room. It was not a Room he was familiar with, but the Dark Lord was gracious enough to tell him how to access the room.

It took him a bit more than half an hour to scuttle past the Hogsmeade village and arrive in front of the Shrieking Shack… Old memories started to flash over inside his mind, but he shook his head to clear his mind. After taking another moment to regain his bearing, he bolted toward the shack in his rat form.

Right now, Hogwarts was closed, pending repairs and that made his task a lot easier as he wouldn't need to worry about getting caught by Albus or Minerva… The old girl had tried to make a snack out of him a couple of times when the both of them were in their Animagus forms. However, he knew that he still needed to be careful.

Peter entered the Shrieking Shack and started to make his way toward the passage under the Shack leading to Hogwarts ground, but his whole body trembled in panic when he heard a pair of footsteps. He quickly scuttled behind the demolished couch and decided to wait. He was afraid that he might have triggered some alert Ward or something.

"I can't believe you think the Shack is a romantic place!" A feminine voice complained loudly and Peter sighed in relief. He was worried for nothing. It must be a couple looking for a private spot for some intimate and steamy action. However, he was weirded out by the fact that someone would bring their lover to the Shrieking Shack to fuck.

Maybe, the Shack was the only private spot remaining in the village since people were in a celebratory mood. Whatever the reason, Peter decided to enjoy the show… It had been quite some time since he had done the deed and the years of hiding as a rat had not been easy for him. He missed going on raids and forcing himself on to someone.

With his beady eyes glinting in glee, he peeked out from behind the ruined couch only to find two glowing green orbs staring back at him… "Hello, Peter…"

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****A-SNAKE'S-LAMENT****

~~Nott Manor~~

Nagaini stared at her human leaving the throne room from the corner of her beady eyes. Her human was an extremely possessive and ruthless man, she liked that, but sometimes, he could be way too overbearing for her liking. He could understand that he was worried for her, she liked that part of him, but forbidding her from going hunting was a big red flag in her books.

She wanted to hunt juicy rabbits or some other unsuspecting animals, but her human forbade her from leaving the mansion and for whatever reason, she couldn't disregard any of his wishes. It had been months since she last ate a human and it was starting to grate on her nerves, but her human was leaving tonight.

Nagini knew that she wasn't as smart or intelligent as her human, but she was smart enough to understand what was happening. Her human might have forbidden her from leaving, but she was her own snake… His control over her would decrease if he wasn't near her, which meant that she could do whatever she wanted.

Nagini decided that she wasn't going to eat any of those weak humans residing in the manor… First of all, her human would be furious if she did that and they were more bones than skin anyway, so there was no way that she would enjoy eating them… However, she could simply slither out of the manor and hunt some animal.

Even that would be better than staying coiled up inside her human's throne room…

Nagini knew that her human would be angry, but she knew that he would understand, and even if he didn't he would eventually forgive her. Nagini perked up when she felt her human leave… She knew that he was gone. She could always feel his presence at the back of her mind. Most of the time, his presence would be overbearing since he would always be around her, but the presence would be light when he was away.

Nagini slowly uncoiled herself and started to slither out of the throne room, being careful as she didn't want to be seen by any of her human's servants. They would try to stop her and she couldn't have that… Nagini knew that she was a big girl, but thanks to her dark scales, she could easily meld into the shadows as long as she stayed out of the light.

Nagini froze when she heard some footsteps heading in her direction and shrunk into the shadows as much as she could… Then she started to hear some voices and the tension started to rise in her coils. She didn't want to be caught as they would try to prevent her from leaving the manor. However, she started to relax when the voices and the footsteps continued to become faint.

A couple of seconds later, the footsteps and voices were gone… Nagini finally hissed in satisfaction and started to move again. She continued to stick to the shadows and after slithering for a whole minute, she finally managed to leave the manor… Nagini slithered into a bush and stretched her massive body, starting to feel free after a long time.

Nagini hissed in glee and continued to slither through the grounds, but she found no animals to hunt… Refusing to return to the manor on an empty stomach, she decided to venture outside the manor grounds. It was risky, but Nagini was not worried… While she couldn't use Magic like her human, she was confident in her own abilities.

With her beady eyes glinting in glee, she finally ventured out of the manor Wards and she was immediately glad that she decided to leave the confines of the manor to hunt… She was finally in her natural habitat. She could hear the birds chirping and a mild breeze blowing through the bushes… Nagini was finally free to play her part and become what she was meant to be.

She could finally be the predator she was born to be…

"Oh… Look there. Such a cute snake" A voice spoke in an amused tone, surprising Nagini… She twisted her body and went for the strike, but all of a sudden her brain was rattled when she collided against something solid. "Such a feisty little creature you are… I was warned about that temper of yours" The same voice continued, grating on Nagini's nerves.

The massive snake finally managed to regain her bearings and decided to evaluate her situation in a calm fashion… Nagini inspected the person who had dared to ruin her good mood only to find herself staring at a young female with blond hair and sharp blue eyes with a Wand in her hand. Nagini realized that the girl could use Magic just like her human could.

Nagini carefully backed away, tensing her coils… She might be somewhat arrogant, but she was aware of her weakness. She could kill humans with Magic without any issue, but for that to happen, she needed to strike them from the shadows or surprise them with her speed. However, she could feel that the young female standing before her was different.

The human not only caught her by surprise, but then she failed to take down the human with her initial attack… Now her target would be wary and alert, which would make it hard for her to kill the young female standing before her. "Ohhh… Look at you. Worrying your cute little head over small stuff. Though I wonder what you are thinking" The woman cooed.

Nagini hissed angrily at the girl… She could feel that the girl was mocking her and the way she was acting and speaking, it was clear that the girl knew about her… Nagini started to contemplate her options. She could try and kill the girl or she could escape, giving up on her hunt… She didn't want to give up her opportunity to hunt, but at the same time, she knew that she was at a disadvantage.

The girl finally stepped forward and once again Nagini hissed threateningly as she reared her head, ready to strike, but the girl continued to approach her. The girl pointed her Wand in her direction and Nagini immediately knew that she needed to strike her down… "Avada Kedavra" The girl muttered under her breath and a green beam came out of her Wand tip.

Nagini was quite familiar with the Spell… It was the instant death Spell, she had seen her human use this Spell quite regularly, so she knew that she needed to dodge. Nagini twisted her body and managed to evade the curse, but then all of a sudden, her senses blared, screaming at her to move aside, but it was too late…

All of a sudden, she found herself falling and then she finally came to a stop, only to realize that she was staring at her own body, but the body was missing the head…

The last thing she ever saw was another female, a bit older than the other one standing over her body with a gleaming blade in her hand…

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****AN-ILL-FATED-ATTACK (II)****

~~Outside Nott Manor~~

The head of the snake burst open and a dark shade burst out of the wound with an unnatural shriek. "What the fuck was that?!" Himera screamed, looking around warily. Whatever it was, it was completely unnatural. Instead of answering the question Jacklyn walked up to the corpse of the snake and poked it with her foot.

"Looks dead to me. What do you think?" Jacklyn asked as she looked at Himera with a questioning look on her face, and from the look on her face, Himera realized that Jacklyn was being completely serious.

"I removed its head with a goblin blade… It won't get any deader than that!" Himera scoffed loudly before giving Jacklyn an annoyed look, wondering if the younger girl was trying to change the topic. "Now, are you going to tell me what the fuck that was or not?" Himera asked with a scowl and Jacklyn simply rolled her eyes at the older woman.

This is why she hated working with older people… They lacked patience. "It was a Horcrux. When you killed the snake, the Horcrux was destroyed" Jacklyn explained as she gestured Himera to move away from the corpse.

Himera nodded her head in understanding, but there was still something she wanted to understand. "So, what's a Horcrux?" Himera asked as she moved away from the snake corpse, giving it some space, wondering what Jacklyn was planning to do.

"It's a Magic, which allows a person to rip a part of their Soul and stuff it inside another object or being" Jacklyn explained as she pointed her toward the snake corpse lying on the ground and a stream of extremely hot flames poured out of her Wand, engulfing the body. Noticing how hot those flames were, Himera practically jumped away while pondering about the information Jacklyn gave her.

"Is something like that even possible?" Himera asked with a bewildered look on her face. Even the existence of Soul was apparently news to her.

"It is, apparently" Jacklyn nodded her head with a shrug.

Then Himera glanced toward the snake corpse… "Did you really need to use Fiendfyre?" Himera asked as she raised one of her brows, giving Jacklyn a questioning look. In the past few months, she had lost all of her paranoid instincts thanks to how calm and her safe life had been, but recently she had started to regain those instincts.

"Yes" Jacklyn nodded her head in agreement. "Harry wanted me to get rid of the corpse for whatever reason. I agreed, it's better to be safe than sorry" Jacklyn added with a shrug. She gave the burning corpse another look before she decided to hightail it. "Let's get out of here. Harry wasn't sure if Voldemort could feel the destruction of his Horcruxes" Jacklyn said warily and Himera completely agreed with the younger girl.

Their job was done, so there was no reason to linger around any more… Moments later, Jacklyn opened a portal and the two of them entered the portal without giving the burning corpse another look… Jacklyn didn't even bother to put off the Fiendfyre as she was sure that the Ministry would eventually learn of it and put it out or it would go out on its own…

~~Diagon Alley~~ (A Few Minutes Earlier)

Voldemort stared at the streets of Diagon Alley, which were filled with people celebrating the end of the year and sneered in disgust. The atmosphere was filled with joy and Voldemort hated that… He turned around to look back at his gathered forces. For a moment, his gaze focused on the Leader of the Vampire group before looking away.

The creature and his team had been completely disappointing… He never expected the so-called Death Dealers to achieve anything, but he never expected them to get caught without much fanfare…

"I think… It's about time we crashed the party" Voldemort started to grin madly as he gave the signal for his Death Eaters and the Vampires to move. Moments later, all of his Death Eaters and Vampires sprang into action. The cries of joy were soon replaced by screams of terror. Buildings and shops started to explode and the Vampires started to attack anyone who dared to run into one of the darker alleys.

Voldemort closed his eyes and took a deep breath… He reveled in their screams. Once again, he felt joy and glee coursing through his own body. After tonight, people are going to start fearing him again. He was going to regain some of the respect and reputation he lost amongst his men…

Now that was another sour spot in his Mind… If he wanted to regain all of his reputation back, then he needed to beat and kill Harry Potter. He was certain that with given time, he could beat the boy… He would have gone into hiding after his loss if the boy hadn't branded his Soul. Now, he could do nothing but stay here and try to come up with a way…

"My Lord!! My Lord!!" Someone started to scream beside him, breaking him out of his blissful thoughts. He barely restrained himself from killing the man who had dared to ruin his moment.

"What happened, Nott?" Voldemort asked with barely restrained rage flowing through his veins. The man winced back in fear, but he still held strong and began to talk.

"My Lord, we are getting attacked by Aurors and some unknown group" The man revealed in a fearful tone and Voldemorrt's head immediately whipped toward the battlefield only to find his Death Eaters fighting against Auror and some other group. He didn't recognize the other group, but he could guess who was the Leader of this group.

For a moment, he wondered if he should retreat… After all, if Potter's group was around, then it was possible that Potter might be around too. He noticed Amelia Bones, Alastor Moody, and Rufus Scrimgeour among the Aurors and while they were a juicy target, he didn't want to risk it. His men and the Vampires had already caused quite a bit of damage and killed quite a few people within a couple of minutes.

However, before he could make up his mind, he felt a searing pain slice through his Soul… "NAGINI!!" Voldemort screamed at the top of his lungs, realizing what must have happened. His rage was apoplectic… Forgetting about all of his concerns, he strode forward and swished his Wand in the air, killing an Auror by pulling out his spine before anyone could react to his arrival.

All of his thoughts of retreating were replaced by pure unfiltered rage… He could think of nothing besides killing all these people as savagely as he could…

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