Curse of Fate

Title: Curse of Fate
Author: Mistress Nika
Rating: PG-15 (Yes, 15. That's somewhere between PG-13 and R)
Summary: Thousands of years into the future, vampire Harry only wants to join his loved ones in death. However, his curse of immortality is absolute. Therefore he sends himself back into the body of his infant self, vowing to this time refuse eternity. When do things ever go according to plan? Unexpected changes to the timeline, people who aren't as they once were and more send his life spiraling out of his control.
Pairings: Harry/Lucius(main), possible Harry/Severus, possible Lucius/Severus, possible Harry/Lucius/Severus, Sirius/Remus, Theo/Hermione, possible Theo/Blaise, possible Hermione/Ginny, Draco/Luna, possible one-sided Harry/Luna on Luna's part, possible Hermione/Pansy, Cedric/Eleanor(OC), past Harry/Ginny
Warnings: AU, het, slash, angst, language, violence, time travel, VampireHarry, DarkLordHarry
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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Chapter Thirteen:
Gifts had been opened, Sirius and Remus had returned and Lucius had been freed from his prismatic prison.

There had been a small, yet suspicious, explosion in the basement during the Quidditch game, causing Harry to hand his position over to a reluctant Eleanor Bell who hadn't wanted to play at all. After returning from his investigation of the strange pink foam that filled his potions lab and thickened into a marshmallow like substance, he threw Sirius a half hearted glare. He'd been after Harry for some time now about his Snape-like proficiency with potions. It would have been more convincing had he actually had a potion in progress. As it was, he just wondered exactly what his godfather had used to cause that most unique situation.

Back at the mini Quidditch game, as there were no bludgers nor a snitch, the teams consisted of five chasers and two keepers. Each team had their hair temporarily charmed either green or blue to tell them apart, as no one wanted to wear "Gryffindor red" or look like a Weasley.

Originally on the blue team, there was Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, the Lestrange twins and Draco Malfoy as chasers with Crabbe and Darcy Nott as keepers. On the green team as chasers, there was Damon Zabini, all three Bell sisters and Olivia Parkinson with Goyle and young Theodore Nott as keepers. Unfortunately, they quickly learned how unbalanced the game was with such teams.

The blue team was being trounced because of the inexperienced younger children, despite the Lestrange twins excellent teamwork. It seemed no one took the fact that Lavinia was currently Slytherin's star chaser into account, nor the fact that Damon and Bianca had been friends for so long that they could predict each other's moves.

After reforming the two teams with Sirius' advice, it became a bit more balanced with the keepers staying the same, but two of the chasers switching teams. With Damon and Bianca on opposite teams, as well as the Lestrange twins, it became slightly more interesting. Especially considering Valeria's enthusiasm and determination to knock her brother off his broom. However, despite Bianca's raw talent and Blaise's quick thinking, the green team lost by thirty points. Poor little Eleanor was absolutely terrified of the ball, the height, the other players and even her own broom.

On the blue team, Damon and Lavinia managed to put aside their dislike for each other long enough to use Draco as their secret scoring weapon. No one expected the spoiled ten year old to be that good at a game he'd never played before. Little did they know he spent most of his time in the air to escape the odd prisoner's living in his house. Darcy surprised them all when, despite her small size, she turned out to be a fierce keeper, blocking almost every shot made.

After the game, the children were talking and enjoying snacks when out of nowhere a clown appeared. Harry had not hired a clown, for reasons which quickly became obvious. Most of the pureblood children had never seen a clown before in their lives. They took one look at his brightly colored outfit, white face, red nose and the balloons in his hand and screamed their little lungs out. The parents came running just in time to see the Lestrange twins prove insanity was hereditary as they let out fierce war cries and physically charged the stunned clown. He was tackled to the ground just as Lucius managed to whip out his wand and levitate the two punching teens away from the man with the now bloody nose.

Harry had a long talk with Sirius about involving innocent muggles in his pranks while Remus apologized profusely to the man in the clown suit who was still in shock. A quick memory charm later, the party was back to normal and the man was likely waking up in a seedy motel room with a hangover.

Dinner was an odd affair. Most had realized by now that Sirius was behind both the clown and the renegade bubble and were staying well away from him. Lucius proved that he was not above a little childish revenge when a suspiciously familiar house-elf who answered to Dobby dropped a platter oflive lobsters in Sirius' lap. The resulting funny dance and girlish scream he gave as one latched onto a particularly sensitive area caused much laughter and Pansy to shoot juice out of her nose.

After dinner, they all gathered in the ball room where a spell provided music for dancing. Sirius had wanted a full orchestra, but Remus had calmly explained why it would not be a good idea to bring dozens of strangers to a party where the guests included Death Eaters and escaped criminals, one of whom was Sirius himself.

Despite being well trained by their parents, most of the younger children found this to be the least fun activity so far. Most were gathered together in one group, talking and watching their parents waltz around the room.

Damon Zabini and Olivia Parkinson had latched onto one another during the first dance and had yet to let go. If the goofy smiles on their faces as they danced were any indication, they were going to be together for quite a while.

Olivia's dear little sister Pansy was clinging to Draco for all she was worth. It was obvious her attentions were not appreciated by the blonde. She had managed to drag Draco off to dance once and, after that, he found whatever excuse he could to refuse her. He was even throwing glances at Harry, as if considering if he should use him as a shield. Pansy found Harry a bit disconcerting.

Poor Rodolphus found himself the sole focus of Lavinia, who, although very pretty and of age, was young enough to be his daughter. However, being the relatively polite man he was, at least in social situations, he could not bring himself to refuse her. When he was pounced upon by Adeline, Narcissa and Emogene he was relieved. Forced to dance with his brother by the three women to sate their voyeuristic desires, he was happy to be a gay incestuous show for them if it meant getting away from Lavinia. Rabastan found himself in a similar situation and quickly agreed if it meant escaping the black widow who seemed to have targeted him, a certain Adeline Zabini who's husband was still mysteriously absent. The two brothers raised many eyebrows as they stuck close together for the rest of the time.

Of course, it was Sirius and Remus who raised the most eyebrows. They still rarely left each other's company after eight years apart and, though they had been rather reserved in showing their affections earlier, it now became clear to all that they were lovers. They danced, held hands and were always seen together. Mostly, it was the idea that the seemingly calm, reserved and logical Remus Lupin was in a relationship with wild, roguish and charismatic Sirius Black. After Rodolphus permanently attached himself to his brother, Lavinia seemed ready to switch her attention to Sirius.

As she ambled over, swaying her hips and playing with her hair, Remus' eyes narrowed. She stopped before them, giggled coyly and asked Sirius to dance. Remus had growled at her in a rather feral way with flashing golden eyes. He told her, in no uncertain terms, that Sirius was taken and she should move on if she valued her life. She'd seemed ready to protest, for no one could ever refuse her, when her father grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off, whispering to her that Lupin was a werewolf and top Death Eater and she should not anger him. She had paled significantly at that and left them alone thereafter.

Valdemar and Valeria Lestrange, having been raised mostly in the muggle world to escape the stigma attached to their father's name, were a bit more outgoing than most of the other children. To be honest, they reminded Harry a bit of the Weasley twins. After about twenty minutes, they both got bored and went to dance themselves. Unfortunately, they'd never learned ballroom dancing and so made up their own combined with some rather dirty moves one might see in a muggle nightclub. Rabastan had never been so embarrassed in his entire life. Not since that time in school when Rodolphus had hidden a sex toy under his bed and pretended to "find" and present it to the entire fifth year dorm. He was still teased about that.

Harry was leaning against a wall watching Blaise Zabini trying to coax the meek Eleanor Bell to dance when he felt something bump him from behind and push him forward. Looking back with a raised eyebrow, he smirked as he saw Draco using him as a human shield and glancing over Harry's shoulder with fearful eyes.

"What, exactly, are you doing?" he asked in his best drawl.

Draco scanned the room once before looking at him. "Sorry," he muttered softly, "but you're the only one Pansy's scared of." At Harry's questioning gaze, he continued with a slight blush, "I got mad, lost my temper, told her to leave me alone and called her a pug-faced imbecile."

Harry had not expected that and began to laugh, visibly surprising Draco. "Perhaps," he said through chuckles, "you should simply tell her you're not interested."

Draco blinked at him confusedly. "Interested?" he asked. "Our parents have a marriage contract for us. It doesn't matter if I'm interested. We'll be married by twenty."

"That doesn't mean you have to be affectionate," Harry put in wisely. "Especially not so young. Just look at your parents."

Harry motioned to the blonde couple across the room, dancing with quite a bit of space between them, though not enough to be considered scandalously frigid. Neither were smiling, but seemed affable to each other. The perfect pureblood noble couple.

"Theirs was an arranged marriage, just like yours will be. Probably the only time they were "affectionate" was when you were conceived, and that was out of duty to produce an heir. You shouldn't push Pansy away and make her an enemy. You'll have to spend your life with her, after all. If you can't like her romantically, which you're too young to know anyway, you should at least be friends. It'll make things easier on both of you."

Draco blinked again and nodded hesitantly, though Harry could see he probably didn't understand fully. He was only ten. Harry just wasn't used to dealing with children.

Harry let out a sigh and gave the boy a smile. "Well, if you're so adverse to dancing with her, how about me?"

Draco's eyes widened in shock. "You?" he asked. "Like how Lupin and Black dance?"

Harry laughed again. "Merlin, no! We're only children!" His laughter drew the attention of some of the adults and they gave him questioning looks. He ignored them, instead focusing on explaining to sweet, innocent Draco. "More like how Damon and Bianca dance. As friends."

"Friends?" Draco asked with a note of suspicion.

'The boy is already so suspicious, of everything.' Harry noted to himself.

"Yes, friends." He leaned in conspiratorially and whispered with a smirk, "After all, even Dark Lords need friends."

Draco jerked back, but Harry didn't give him time to refuse. He grabbed him by the hand and dragged him to the middle of the room, still smirking.

What followed would be remembered by every Death Eater present for quite some time. Harry, their Dark Lord, who had not danced with anyone else, led the mildly protesting Malfoy heir around the room to the music.

Those who had been in doubt before, could no longer consider Harry Potter a normal wizard, not even a famous or powerful one.

His steps were light and he moved with fluid, inhuman grace. The soft glow of the fairy lights made his skin seem even more pale than usual. His crimson lips were turned up into an amused smile and the fang that glinted in the light as he laughed confirmed any lingering doubt.

Each person present knew the lineage of every other. Nearly every pureblood family had creature blood and, though they never spoke of it, it was accepted as fact. After all, creature blood was not muggle blood and so they remained pure.

The white-blonde hair, silver eyes and seductive allure of the Malfoys were indicative of Veela blood, though very far back as, had it been only a few generations, they would not be able to have male children. The Parkinsons had at least two banshee hiding out in their family tree. Luckily, banshee traits were not dominant. Both the Crabbes and Goyles had troll blood at some point, resulting in larger than usual frames and lower intelligence. Even the Lestranges were not exempt, having two Incubi and a Succubus as their ancestors.

It was rare though that creature blood would surface in anything other than minor traits. It took a larger than normal magical core to fuel such a change.

Rare, but not unheard of.

The Potters were known to have not only vampiric ancestors, but large amounts of magical power. Once, every couple hundred years or so, one of them would be born a vampire. Apparently, it had happened again.

-SCENE BREAK-

The party was over and the children staying the night, all but the Lestrange twins and Lavinia and Eleanor Bell, were supposed to be in bed. However, that was not the case. All ten of them had gathered in Draco's room to hear the Malfoy heir's information on Harry Potter and the return of the Death Eaters.

He outlined all he knew in quiet whispers and ended with his suspicion that something was going to happen tonight. After hearing all the evidence, being the intelligent and crafty mix of Slytherins and Ravenclaws they were, they decided to do as Draco had done and spy on the proceedings. How, exactly, ten children from nine to fifteen years of age were going to spy on battle hardened wizards never crossed their minds.

So, with much whispering, shushing, tripping over each other in an effort to be sneaky, getting lost three times and after half an hour of aimless wandering, they found themselves back at the ballroom. There were about to give up and just go back to bed when the hall torches lit up proceeding a person down the hall. Wide-eyed, they all shot panicked looks at each other, as if asking "We'regonnabecaught!whatdowedo?" With a shove from Draco, they all dived into a sitting room just across the hall from the ballroom.

Cracking the door open, ten pairs of eyes peered out into the hall as a tall figure in black, with hood down and blonde hair falling slightly forward over the sliver mask, opened the door to the ballroom and slipped in.

"That was your father!" Pansy whispered, slapping Draco on the arm.

"No," he drawled back. "How'd you guess?"

"What's with the silver mask?" Blaise asked in confusion. "I thought they were white."

Draco started to open his mouth, but Damon beat him to it.

"Perhaps," the Ravenclaw boy speculated, "it is indicative of a coterie or camarilla of sorts, as the simple white masks are of the more plebeian Death Eaters."

They all stared at him blankly.

He sighed in resignation. "Silver masks for the Inner Circle. White masks for the grunts." Murmurs of "oh!" answered him. He shook his head in pity at his pathetically under educated friends.

A few more minutes passed and what could only be Sirius Black and Remus Lupin entered the ballroom wearing black robes and sliver masks. They were followed closely by the Lestrange brothers who were wearing the common white masks.

Draco was confused, however, when a few minutes later, his mother appeared. He didn't think his mother was a Death Eater. She didn't seem the combative sort. She wasn't wearing a mask nor robes, though her dress was appropriately black. She did not enter the ballroom and instead stood outside it, waiting patiently. She was joined a few moments later by Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Malcolm Bell and a man none of them knew who answered to Michaels. They were all wearing the white masks and none of them ventured inside.

They all milled around for a bit, a few carrying on hushed conversations. Apparently, Rodolphus and Rabastan were being given "new Marks", which the children first assumed were for the Inner Circle. However, Michaels also seemed to be in the Inner Circle as they asked him about the differences between his Mark and theirs.

After about twenty minutes, the doors opened and both Lucius and Sirius were roughly shoved out and the doors slammed shut behind them. The other assembled Death Eaters stared at them in confusion, but they only had eyes for each other.

They were locked in a furious war of wills, glaring at each other with a blazing anger.

Finally, Sirius snapped out, "Do I look like a sucker to you?"

Lucius smirked and muttered something in French.

"What do you mean, a loser?" Sirius shouted angrily. "I outrank you!"

"That's just because you're his godfather," Lucius responded easily. "I'm the one he trusts with his important affairs."

Sirius gave a rather childish pout and a "Nuh-uh!"

Still smirking, Lucius starting ticking things off on his fingers. "Who's the one he takes to all of his meetings? Who's the one he introduces as his 'closest confidant'? Who's the one on a first name basis with his master?"

Sirius' indignant shout of "He only has one name!" was ignored.

"Who's the one he chooses to lead attacks?"

The reopening of the ballroom doors went unnoticed by all but the children.

"That's just because I was in Azkaban or busy shagging Remus into the mattress!"

A voice was cleared and from the doors came a deceptively calm, "Who was shagging whom?"

Sirius froze like the proverbial deer in the headlights. He glanced over at his unamused mate, then back to Lucius.

"Like I said," he said with a totally straight face. "Remus was busy shagging me into the mattress."

Quiet snickers erupted, but a glare from the angry werewolf silenced them. "If you two are through acting like children, we can begin the meeting." With that he stepped back, allowing all those present to enter.

The children gave each other pointed looks and quietly crept out of the room, across the hall and cracked the ballroom door open.

-SCENE BREAK-

Harry was not very pleased with Lucius at the moment. Something like that was far from unexpected with Sirius, but he expected far better from the blonde. He was just glad the only others present were Remus, Rodolphus and Rabastan. If they had indulged in petty bickering like that in a full meeting, he'd have had no choice but to Crucio them.

He was also surprised to know that an insinuation that Lucius was not completely loyal to Harry, coupled with childish taunts about Harry liking Sirius better, was all it took to push him over the edge. Of course, there had been tension between them ever since the lobster incident early that day.

With a heavy sigh, he watched as the two Lestranges replaced their white masks with the silver ones. They had gotten the same story Lucius had, which was the closest to the truth of any of his lies. Really, it was completely true. He had been born a vampire with the memories of a First One. Did the fact that he'd already lived one lifetime really matter? It wasn't the future, after all, nor the past. It simply didn't exist anymore, nowhere but in his memories.

He had given them the option of serving him, knowing he was not their previous master, and receiving power and protection in return. Or they could be Obliviated and go back to thinking he was Voldemort. Suffice to say, as Lucius had, they accepted.

Remus had now moved to let the others in and he went over in his head what he wanted to accomplish this meeting.

His Inner Circle was now complete with only those he could trust implicitly. Sirius, Remus, Lucius, Rodolphus and Rabastan had taken up their silver masks.

Next, he would give the more standard story of being both Voldemort and Harry Potter to the others and alter the Marks of Nott, Goyle, Crabbe and Bell to be his and his alone. Should the unlucky event occur where Voldemort regained his power, he would not be able to manipulate them any longer.

Narcissa Malfoy would also receive his Mark. Despite appearances, she was not weak and indeed far from helpless. She had been trained alongside her sisters and the rest of the Black family in all aspects of the Dark Arts and prepared to serve their Dark Lord in any way possible. In the end, it was Bellatrix who was chosen to be his warrior, while Narcissa was chosen to give birth to the next generation of Death Eater and to groom her son as she had been. Now, with Bellatrix's death, she would expect it to be her turn to step up and fight.

His Elite would bear his Mark, as they would be privy to information that he could not allow to fall into anyone else's hands. They would be his generals. Narcissa Malfoy, Jonathan Michaels, Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe and Malcolm Bell would fill out this group. There were also places for Adeline Zabini, Lionel Parkinson and Emogene Parkinson, should they desire them. Unfortunately, they were not present. Not knowing them personally, he would also need to evaluate their skills. From listening to their thoughts and delving into their minds during the party, he knew they could be trusted this much, but he was uncertain if they would be useful to him.

That was a matter for later.

As the Death Eaters filed in and kneeled before him, not in subservience but in respect, he smiled. You did not need cruelty and violence to inspire loyalty. Even Remus and Sirius kneeled before taking their places at his side. Lucius stood to his right, Sirius to his left and Remus beside his mate.

Those still kneeling raised their heads as he began to speak.

"Tonight is a very special night. It marks the completion of the reordering of our ranks. Some of you will feel angry at the loss of the ability to call yourself an Inner Circle Death Eater. You should not. I have simply created another caste into which you will fit. Remus Lupin and Sirius Black are outside all castes, though they have the title of Inner Circle. They are my family and any attack on them is a personal attack against myself. Is that understood?"

His eyes glowed red and, though none of those present harbored any ideas of attacking the two, he knew now that they never would.

"Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Lucius Malfoy, Rodolphus Lestrange and Rabastan Lestrange are my Inner Circle. They are to be treated with the utmost respect. If you are on a raid, you will listen when they speak and obey without question. Lucius is my Right Hand, the leader of the Inner Circle and he answers only to me."

Lucius smirked at this and a couple of those not named looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"The new caste is simply called the Elite. As an Elite, you hold power over all other Death Eaters, save those of the Inner Circle. Narcissa Malfoy, Jonathan Michaels, Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe and Malcolm Bell, you are my generals. Each of you will receive my new Mark tonight."

The remaining Death Eaters looked both disappointed at the loss of their old station and excited by the potential of their new one.

"However," he continued, narrowing his eyes and silencing the few whispers that had started up. "First you will hear a story. The story of what happened nine years ago." Here he paused for effect. None save his Inner Circle had been told exactly what happened.

"Nine years ago, the Dark Lord Voldemort attack a baby. His curse backfired, killing him and giving the infant wizard exact copies of his memories, powers and even a part of his soul. For five years, the boy child lived with muggles. Until the night his augmented magical core awakened both the dormant vampiric blood of his ancestors and the memories of who he once was. And so, from that night on, he lived as a strange amalgamation of both Dark Lord and boy savior. He still carried many of the desires and goals that Voldemort had, but he also had a more pragmatic viewpoint.

"The current magical government has to go. They are greedy, corrupt and will be the ruin of all wizarding society. Governments rise and fall as revolutions come and go. Now it is the Ministry of Magic's turn.

"Purity of blood is important, for it is a fact that muggle blood combined with magical blood decreases the chances of having a magical child, resulting in far more squibs being born in recent history than ever before. However, mudblood, halfblood and pureblood does not matter in the breeding of magical offspring. I see some of you look ready to protest, but let me give you a few examples that you may not be aware of.

"Helga Hufflepuff, one of the greatest witches in history, was muggleborn." As a few shocked mutterings occurred, Harry silently thanked Linara, his new feline friend, for that bit of information. "For more recent examples, let's look at Albus Dumbledore who had a halfblood mother. Remus Lupin," here he nodded to the gently smiling werewolf, "is a halfblood. Our little traitor, Severus Snape, is a halfblood. My dear mother, Lily Evans Potter, whom I'm sure you all know was an Unspeakable for the Department of Mysteries, was a halfblood with a muggleborn father. I, myself, am a step away from being a halfblood. And last, but certainly not least, I, as Lord Voldemort, was a halfblood with a muggle father. So, surely, you can see that even those of impure blood can become incredibly powerful."

Thoughtful nods swept the hall. After all, who were they to question their lord and master?

"As long as a child has two magical parents, they will usually be magical themselves. It is muggle blood that will be the downfall of our world. If we continue breeding with them, within a few hundred years, there will be no magical beings left. No witches. No wizards. No squibs. Just the occasional muggleborn who will have no one to teach them and who will be called a freak and ostracized for their powers."

It was true. Harry had seen the downfall of the magical world. In three hundred years, magical humans would be scarce. In less than seven hundred, magic would be just a memory. Ironically, it had been caused by the very thing he had sought to protect. Witches and wizards having children with muggles. While a single muggle in a family may not cause any immediate detriment, interbreeding over centuries weakens the magic in the blood until it starts producing squibs and finally vanishes all together.

The few magical humans left were those like him. Immortal creatures who had once been a witch or wizard. The few muggleborns were considered a blessing to them and persecuted by the muggles. Harry had taken in each muggleborn he could find, teaching them magic in an effort to reestablish their people, but it was too little too late. He did not want to see that happen again, even if he had to promote "purist propaganda" to stop it.

"Now, you know the story and you know what I am fighting for. If you disagree with me, I will erase all memory of me returning from you and your families minds. Otherwise, come forward when I call your name to receive your new Mark."

He could see in their minds than none would turn away.

"Theodore Nott."

The man quickly got to his feet, walked forward, dropped to his knees once more and offered up his arm. It continued on in this vein until he got to Narcissa, who had no Mark to alter. After giving her his Mark, he also gave her a smile and said, "Welcome to the Death Eaters, Narcissa."

-SCENE BREAK-

Back in the safety of Draco's bedroom, the ten children stared at each other, in awe of what they had seen.

"Sweet Merlin, he's charismatic," Bianca breathed. "He really makes you believe he can do anything."

"He just oozes power," Olivia agreed. "I think just a look from him when he's like that could send me to my knees."

Pansy nodded. "He's kinda cute too," she giggled.

Bianca hit her with a pillow. "Get off it, Pansy. You're too young to be thinking like that."

"And he's not cute," Darcy put in. "He's handsome, even for a little kid, if you could call him that."

"Stop with the girly talk!" Theo cried, poking his sister in the ribs. "This is the Dark Lord you're talking about!"

Darcy stuck her tongue out at him prompting him to grab the pillow Bianca had used to smack Pansy and use it on her.

"He's not just powerful, charismatic and attractive though," Damon said, ignoring the Nott siblings bickering. "He's also dangerous."

They all grew solemn, thinking back on the end of the meeting when he had held Bianca's father under the Cruciatus for not being discreet enough with his dealings.

"One day," Draco spoke lowly, "I will serve him."

"One day," Theo replied, "we all probably will."

"Yes," Draco said emphatically, "but unlike you, I won't do it out of duty. I will do it willingly."