Pre-Chapter A/N:First of all, Happy Holidays to all who celebrate. Gift yourself some good cheer with 10% off all plans on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) page. If you haven't already, I recommend turning on notifications for my stuff so you can see when new stuff drops right as it drops. More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio
XXXX- THE DARK LORD'S SERVANT
He tried to show none of the nervousness he felt on his face. He knew his Lord could sense it as clearly as if he were staring through Lucius' soul, but he had at least some semblance of a reputation to protect with the others. And he also knew that, in this case, his nervousness was amusing to his Lord, so he would not be suffering for it. Not anytime soon, at least.
The clock struck eight exactly, and there was the standard whirling motion that marked a hole being torn in space itself to allow the portkey to deposit itself, and those who had tagged along with it on its journey through the folds of space, on the floor. If Lucius had been anticipating a show of some sort, then he was sorely disappointed.
Both the man and the young woman he had brought with him landed perfectly. The portkey that had brought them all the way from Africa to Europe—a journey that most would have struggled to make without regurgitating the contents of their stomach on the floor—seemed to have done little to ruffle either of them.
"Prince Ojin, welcome, welcome," the Dark Lord said, stepping forward and opening his hands widely in a grand gesture.
The Son of the Japanese Emperor took a second before acknowledging his Lord. First, he surveyed the drawing room, noting those who waited on their knees, and then his eyes fell on Lucius himself. A smile that looked to skirt the edge between amusement and mockery found itself on the man's face as he stepped forward.
"Lord Voldemort. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance in person. If only this meeting could have happened a decade earlier as scheduled," he said.
"My studies kept me much too busy for any considerations of that nature," the Dark Lord said, sticking to their story. They would discredit Potter's achievement thoroughly, make Dumbledore out to be a liar, and in doing so, cement his Lord's invincibility. It was one of Lucius' better ideas, in truth.
"Studies. Hmm. Is that the story you have chosen, Riddle?" the Prince asked, looking at the Dark Lord with his head tilted to the side.
Lucius was careful not to react to the name drop. Anyone with any iota of sense in them was careful not to. Needless to say, more than half the room had their heads snapping up in shocked expressions. Dumbledore had tried to spread the truth of his Lord's identity during His first rise. Back then, the only solution had been a clear denial with evidence of Tom Riddle's death at the hands of the Dark Lord himself for daring to claim descent from the noble blood of Slytherin.
The ones with more sense had doubted the story for sure, but those ones had the sense to know that spreading their doubts would lead them to nothing but a shallow grave at a young age. So they all swallowed the story and pushed it as much as they could. But Lucius knew it was a sore spot for his Lord—his true ancestry.
"Leave us," his Lord hissed so lowly that the words might as well have come from Nagini herself.
Thankfully, Lucius was more than adept at reading his Lord's mood and had begun preparing himself to leave even before the words had left his Lord's lips. He was almost at the door when he heard the words.
"Not you, Lucius. The Prince is your guest after all, is he not? It would be oh so rude of me to send away his host so early on," his Lord said, and Lucius abandoned his escape, clearing his mind so none of the disappointment he felt was felt by his Lord's passive Legilimency. Many felt his Lord was infallible and that nothing could be hidden from him. Lucius had learned early on that this was not the case. Nothing his Lord wanted to find out could be hidden from him, but if his Lord never knew what he wanted to find out, then he would never find it.
The secret was to ensure that he looked like he had absolutely nothing to hide at all.
"So, Riddle. Now that you've sent your pawns away and given up on that pitiful attempt at intimidation, what do you have for me?" the Prince asked, and Lucius got the feeling that the Prince was the kind of man who enjoyed playing with fire.
"Careful," his Lord warned, voice barely above a whisper.
Lucius, if he was willing to risk even more attention coming his way, would have told the Prince to stop poking right about now. It was a classic feature of Pureblood negotiations—the part of it where they tested each other's temperances to determine restraint among other things. The only issue with that was that the Dark Lord was no Pureblood, and despite how good a job he did in hiding that fact, there were just some things that gave him away.
"Oh, what are you going to do? Kill me? You probably would win if we were to duel, but then would you beat all of Japan when they descend on this little island of yours? Could you afford to fight us while fighting your Ministry? And I assure you, even with the Minister in your pocket, you will fight the Ministry. Nations are not so easy to conquer, I fear," he said, and Lucius froze.
How did he even know that they had Fudge on their side? Did he have a spy? Either in their ranks or in Fudge's? Or was it just a lucky guess? An assumption based on Lucius' relationship with the man? That was possible, but it was incredibly astute.
"I might not be able to kill you, but there are things I could do to you to make you beg for death."
"Of course, of course, you are a Dark Lord, after all. I am sure you could make me scream for mercy all night long," he said with a wink in Lucius' direction that Lucius was careful not to acknowledge. This fool of a man might have had the protection of Japan behind him, but Lucius enjoyed no such thing, and having his Lord think he had any part to play in this madness was just a one-way ticket to a shallow grave. Lucius' usefulness could outweigh a lot of things, but never a direct insult. The Dark Lord would never be mocked.
"Shall we get on to business?" his Lord said, clearly on the edge of lashing out with his wand.
"Indeed. These are the terms my father is willing to agree to: We will allow you to have dominion over Britain, and in exchange, you will do your level best to prevent Europe from involving itself in Asia's affairs," he said.
"Allow me? I think you must be mistaken as to what the nature of things is. I am Lord Voldemort. I am not allowed to do anything. I take, and I take, and I take anything I want. And I dare the world to defy my will. It never does. Japan will not interfere in Europe, and to prevent me from interfering in Asia's matters, you shall make a single payment in potions ingredients, creature parts, and gold," he said.
The Prince visibly scoffed before he began his response. "You will be unable to interfere in Asia's matters for whatever reason. Even if you managed to conquer this nation of yours by the year's end, by then our hold on Asia would be too entrenched to be dislodged by any. As for paying you to do what you already want to do, I am sure we can come to a profitable agreement between ourselves. We are willing to provide you with all of that and more in exchange for certain… actions," Ojin said.
"Speak the whole of your offer. If it is acceptable, then we shall have an agreement."
"Indeed. My father would be much pleased if you were to take your campaign beyond Britain. Into France, if possible. We will provide resources to support you and your people, and in exchange, you will agree to secure certain specimens for our use. Veela—who I am told have their largest enclave in France—Vampires, Werewolves, Merpeople, Goblins, and Centaurs are just some of the specimens we desire. I will see to it that you are furnished with a detailed list ahead of time and then payment for each specimen when secured at a fixed rate depending on the specimen. We are also interested in hybrids with any of these specimens. Half-breeds, as your people would know them. We are willing to pay double the rate for a half-breed," he said.
The Dark Lord paused, looking at the man who spoke. "I find this acceptable. Lucius, handle this negotiation. I have other matters to attend to. Do not fail me," he said, and then swept from the room, not even giving their guest another look.
"Quite rude, wouldn't you say?" the Prince asked.
Lucius ignored the words. "Can we get to the details as to payments now?" he asked with a sigh.
XXXXX- HARRY POTTER
I shot a bolt of lightning behind me, more than slightly irritated by the birds that harried us. They had been fascinating at first, but now they were more annoying than anything else. Especially since the more time we spent here, the more of them appeared. Our route to the island had been cut off by two of the birds earlier, so now we were being forced to go around them.
"This is so bloody annoying," I groused before forming a rune and shielding myself from another beam of lightning. Each beam seemed to take something substantial from the bird that fired it, so we were at least able to prevent ourselves from getting overrun. If they were smarter, they would hold their fire so they could fire at once, but as long as they hunted as individuals, they failed to become truly dangerous. They were good fliers, but the truth was that with this broom between my legs, I was better than they were in the air.
I weaved around one that tried to pluck me from my broom, ignoring its indignant caw as I passed by smoothly, leaving it to taste nothing but dust. They were not smart enough to work together to make this more difficult than it presently was, but unfortunately, they were smart enough to know that we were trying to get to the island and that once we did, we would be out of their hands.
So they harried our every move, even as they always left someone behind to guard the path to the island. I growled as I just barely managed to barrel roll away from a talon that would have clawed several wounds into me.
"Fuck it. Nicholas, follow my lead," I said to my master, before making a sharp about-turn and heading straight towards the bird right at my tail. If it were smarter, it would have figured that I had a plan of some sort. Instead, it opened its beak wide, expecting me to just fly straight into it. How dumb, I sighed.
"Imperio," I snarled next, focusing not on my rage or annoyance, but my sheer intent to dominate. Magical creatures could resist the Imperius better than non-magical creatures even if they weren't very smart. I'd love to see someone attempt something like that on a dragon. Watching them fail would be funny for the few seconds or so they lasted before they ended up roasted to ash. However, even if this Oncho was a powerful magical creature, it was no dragon.
And when it came to power, I was not lacking for it either. And beyond just not lacking it, I had fully come into my own in the last few months. The bird snapped its beak shut and turned around, following my lead. It moved towards the bird that was blocking the route to the island before slamming straight into its confused fellow. It aimed down with its beak, ripping a chunk of its flesh off and spitting it out before keeping a hold of it and sending the two of them into the sea. I flew past the previously blocked space and turned to my side to see Nicholas looking at me with a look I could not quite place.
The bird under my control flew up from the water mere seconds after I had directed it in and fired a beam of lightning straight at its fellows that still chased Nicholas and me, forcing them to scatter. We made it to Okinawa twenty minutes after we had left the boat.
We landed at the outskirts of a village even as people began to come out of their homes. Nicholas waved his wand, and I noticed my features begin to change as he transfigured my face without even looking at me. I felt my ears shift to be even wider apart. My nose widened to become more squat, and my hair lengthened as it fell down to my shoulders. I turned to it. It was a bright red. Nicholas was sporting similar red hair and features altogether. We barged through the town, ignoring the people who stared at us as we headed towards the biggest house in the middle of it.
A man came out as we approached, speaking rapid Japanese. Nicholas flicked his wand, and the man came to a stop. We marched straight into his home. Nicholas flicked his wand, freezing the man's wife and daughter in their place as we walked to the fireplace. I noticed that Japanese Floo powder was black in color. He took a handful of it and tossed it in the fire before he tossed something else from his pocket into the flames.
He said something in Japanese, and then the fire flashed black and covered us. Just as it drew us in, though, I felt myself be squeezed through a hole.
"What the hell was that?" I asked as I struggled to catch a breath. That was easily the least comfortable Apparition I had ever been a part of.
"The Floo would hide the magic signature of the Apparition. Assume that everything that happens in Japan's wards can be tracked. Nothing is perfect, though."
"The magical signature of the Floo would make it difficult for anyone to find the traces then," I said, nodding my head.
Nicholas barked a laugh. "Not difficult. Impossible. For a second there, we did not exist truly. The Floo had begun to take us, so we were within the Floo Network before I Apparated us away, and you know how the Floo works," he said. I gave him a very doubtful look, suddenly feeling the urge to throw up.
"How did you know that would work?" I asked with a growl. Apparating in the middle of a Floo journey was another level of reckless. It was more than being blind to mortality. It was tantamount to being suicidal. And if Nicholas Flamel was suicidal, then why was I here in the middle of one of the most dangerous nations for a foreigner to be in with him?
"I wish I could take credit for this. One of my apprentices managed to try it and succeed some centuries ago," he said.
"What would even make anyone want to try that? Floo travel works by putting us everywhere and nowhere at the same time. How can you Apparate while being nowhere?" I asked, even as he seemed to pick a direction at random and begin to walk. I followed along, sure he knew where he was going.
"Because Apparating is not taking a portkey. With a portkey, you need to know both the departure point and destination point ahead of time. Even return portkeys have some element of that with their scanning and logging function. Apparition, on the other hand, only needs a destination in mind. You could be anywhere or even nowhere, and it will still work. The hard bit was overcoming the disorientation that comes with Floo travel. Well, that and bringing you along, I guess. Wasn't fully sure that your hand wouldn't fall out of some housewife's fireplace or something," he said.
"You think you're funny, and that's the problem," I groused, not even replying to the clear attempt to get on my nerves.
"I know I'm funny, you mean."
"Where are we?" I asked.
"I can't say," he replied.
"Really? Continuing with the secrets even now? We're literally already here."
"No. I mean I literally can not say," he said, turning and giving me a significant look.
"Exactly how many Unbreakable Vows have you sworn?" I sighed. It was beginning to become clear that the man was somewhat obsessed with them.
"How many have I sworn? More than I can remember. A better question would be how many remain active. And the answer to that one is that I cannot say," he replied.
"What even leads one to swearing an Unbreakable Vow to hide the number of Unbreakable Vows that one has sworn?" I scoffed.
"Or I have vows I have sworn to keep secret, and including them in the count would be too close to breaching that for me to be comfortable with," he said.
"Oh," I conceded with a shrug. "Can you say where we are in general terms, though?" I asked.
"Japan."
"Yeah, I should have seen that one coming," I conceded with a shake of my head as we walked through the wooded area. We stopped at a random tree, and Nicholas knocked on it before beginning to sing in a language I could barely place as Gaelic of all things.
Nothing happened until he finished the song, and then after he did so, he took a step back and bowed like he had just finished a performance.
"Off-key on the chorus, but acceptable." The tree grew a mouth before speaking in a deep baritone. And then its body creaked and began to open up, revealing a door of all things.
"Thank you, Keeper," Nicholas said before stepping through. I followed him quickly, not keen on being forced to replicate that performance in case the door closed.
A/N: Another chapter concluded. We get some time in England and then Japan proper. Welcome to the fun times. Next three chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.