The Light Which Cast's Shadows

A/N: Long time coming! Sorry for the long wait, a lot's been going on for me lately and I've barely had any free time. Hopefully this chapter's worth the wait! There's a few references to other stories I've written, and characters I've used in this one. Enjoy - RR13

Chapter 9: Death Eaters Wanted; No Mudbloods need apply

One week from the Potter family meal in Lily's quarters, Selene was sat in Fleurs office. Fleur, for once, wasn't marking assignments. Instead, she was lounging leisurely in her chair, her feet rested up on her desk. Selene was perched on the edge of a desk as usual. Fleur was twirling her ornate Rosewood wand in her hand. She appeared to be ignoring Selene, and instead staring at ceiling. Selene knew her well enough to know when she was mad, and wisely chose to remain silent. After several minutes of silence, broken only by the sound of Fleurs chair creaking and the ticking of a clock on the far wall, Fleur spoke in a low soft voice. "Selene? Do you know why I asked you to come here today?"

"No, I don't." Selene replied, opting to ditch her usual sarcasm in the hopes that this encounter might be relatively painless with her cooperation.

"In the time that you have been here, six and a half weeks that is, you have recruited no students, reported no intel back to the Dark Lord, and killed a student. That's poo, Selene. He expected so much more from you."

"I've been busy. I've been trying to get in with the Potters-" Selene began.

"Selene! That's not enough anymore. We need forces, and we need them now more than ever!"

"Fleur? What's this about?" Selene asked, a frown forming on her face. Fleur sighed, swung her feet off the desk, and sat forward in her chair.

"Last night, the ministry raided one of our safehouses. They took no prisoners. We lost 44 Death Eaters. Our numbers are at a little less than 400 at the moment. We can't fight the ministry and the Order in our current state.

"I don't understand." said Selene. "We number in the thousands! Where's everyone gone?"

"Defected, abandoned us, run away, deep cover, you name it, there's a hundred reasons why our numbers are so small. Now listen. You have one week. We need new recruits, by any means possible."

"You mean you'd be willing to Imperius kids to fight for us?" Selene smirked. "The Dark Lord would never-"

"The Dark Lord is currently in Albania, on a recruitment drive that you were supposed to be assigned to!" snapped Fleur.

"That's hardly my fault." said Selene, a little sheepishly. "I was captured by these losers, and now I'm having to play perfect little daughter just to glean the tiniest tidbit of information."

"An operation that has currently provided no results whatsoever." said Fleur, a cruel smirk playing around her lips. "From now on, you're to focus on your secondary objective; the recruitment drive."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" asked Selene, her trademark sarcasm edging its way back into her voice. "Do I just waltz up to students and say 'Hey, I'm that Death Eater that's totally trying to turn over a new leaf, join the Death Eaters? We have cookies!'. Yeah, I'm sure that won't be suspicious at all.". Fleur reached into the drawer of her desk and pulled out a roll of parchment.

"I've made a list of students that I think would be good candidates, and would be interested in the cause." she said, handing Selene the roll. Selene took ahold of it, and unfurled the yellowed paper. The list wasn't particularly long, but contained a fair few students that she recognised. Some were obvious. Blaise Zabini. Pansy Parkinson. Gemma Farley. Curtis Everdeech. Amy Frome. All Slytherins, and one's she could tolerate at that. Some of the names she was surprised by, namely Parvati and Padma Patil and Ginny Weasley.

"Weasley? Really? That filthy blood traitor?" Selene drawled.

"Yes, she's already shown a penchant for Dark Magic, and she's just desperate to prove herself amongst her collection of high flying brothers."

"Menagerie more like it." Selene muttered, casting her eye over the list. There were a few other names on the list that she vaguely recognised.

"What do you think?" asked Fleur.

"I'm not sure on some of these. I mean, Tracey Davis?"

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's a psychopath." said Selene, bluntly.

"So are you."

"I'm a sociopath." Selene scowled. "I don't know some of these people. Penelope Clearwater?"

"Ravenclaw, Year above you."

"Teachers pet?"

"That's the one."

"Hate her, no way. Mark Mardon? Don't tell me. First year, Hufflepuff. Carries that ugly school bag with a pug on it? I hate him." Selene scoffed.

"Slytherin, same year as you." sighed Fleur.

"Always liked the guy. Good choice. I'm not speaking to Clearwater, or Davies. I'll speak to the others, Patil's 1 and 2, the Slytherins, Mardon, Bivolo and Weasley." Selene nodded.

"Good, and Selene, try to sell it to them, not threaten them." Fleur smirked. Selene giggled to herself.

"Hey! I can be very persuasive without being threatening, y'know."

"Oh come on, please!" Selene whined. Cyrus signed and crossed his arms. The two were sat on a sofa in Lily's quarters. Lily and James had gone to a staff meeting, leaving the two siblings alone in her quarters.

"No way, sis. I'm not covering for you!" he said. "Last time I told a lie to Mum and Dad, they grounded me for a month, took away my broom and made me help Filch clean the toilets on the second floor! Have you seen the bathrooms down there? They're disgusting! And creepy. I could've sworn that the girls toilet down there is haunted! I kept hearing these weird whispering sounds."

"Cy, as much as I would love to hear about your misadventures in a girls bathroom with a creepy old man who's always muttering to himself about torturing students, I really don't have time. I've been invited to a social gathering and I have to attend."

"You can just say party, y'know, it's not like it's a curse word."Cyrus muttered. "Besides, it's not like Mum and Dad will mind. Small parties are fine so long as it's been approved by the head of house and doesn't last past midnight."

"Ah." said Selene. "Well, it's not exactly the sort of party that a teacher might approve of… If you know what I mean?" she said, giving him a meaningful glance. He stared at her in confusion for a few moments, before a look of shock came over his face.

"Merlin's beard! You're going to one of Hufflepuff's infamous orgies?! Selene!"

"What? No! I wish… Cy, it's a party with booze. Y'know? Firewhiskey? Extra strength Butterbeer?"

"That's a thing?"

"It is when I'm around. Come on, Cy? Please?" Selene whined, putting on a pout. The same pout that had been getting her out of trouble, and subsequently getting Draco into trouble, since she was three years old. Cyrus sighed.

"Ugh, fine. Just this once, and if I get caught, you're doing all my homework for a month."

"Deal." Selene grinned, throwing her arms around Cyrus' neck and hugging him. "Thanks little bro, I promise you, you won't regret this!" she pressed a kiss to his cheek and ran out of the room.

"At least she's making friends." Cyrus muttered to himself. Little did he know that elsewhere in the castle, a similar conversation was taking place.

"Albus, please. This feels so wrong to be spying on my own children." said Lily, clearly distressed. The Order of the Phoenix sat around a large table in Dumbledore's office, a large floating gas-like orb hanging in the air in front of them. In the depths of the orbs mist, a view of Selene throwing her arms around Cyrus' shoulders could be seen.

"Thanks little bro, I promise you, you won't regret this!" came Selene's voice from the orb. The Order watched as she pressed a kiss to his cheek and ran out of the room.

"At least she's making friends." Cyrus muttered. Dumbledore sat back and stroked his beard, deep in thought.

"Indeed." he said. "It seems that Hogwarts is doing wonders for young Miss. Potter."he mused.

"Are you mad, Albus?!" barked Mad-Eye. "She's clearly manipulating him."

"Oh, hush Alastor." Albus chided. "Cyrus is her flesh and blood, she would never manipulate him. The love they share as siblings is far stronger than any selfish desire in her heart."

"You've lost your bloody marbles!" Mad-Eye roared. "It's as plain as the nose on my- uh, as plain as day! She's made no friends since coming to the school! She's clearly lying! Who would invite a known Death Eater to their party? Only other Death Eaters. Or wannabe's! This is clearly a lie!"

"Alastor, don't you think you're overreacting?"

"Albus… I hate to say it… But I'm inclined to agree with Alastor." said James. "There's no way there's a party tonight. The portrait network would have alerted us. They see and hear everything."

"Yeah, perhaps we should have one of them follow her, report on what she's doing."

"Nonsense." said James. "I'll go. Then we have the advantage of the human element, and if she catches me, then I'll just pretend I bumped into her."

"No good." argued Tonks. "Selene's a highly trained, and extremely skilled assassin, she'll know when she's being followed, and her instincts will kick in."

"Which wouldn't be a problem if she wasn't given her wand back." Mad-Eye snarled, casting a dark look at Dumbledore.

"You all see the dark that has tainted her soul. But I see the light in her heart." said Dumbledore. "Let us not think the worst of Miss. Potter."

Deep in the depths of the dungeons existed a secret room. Technically, it wasn't a secret. Everyone knew it was there. But no-one cared. It had once been a potion's classroom, but fourteen years ago it had been cordoned off following a first year Hufflepuff being so afraid of Snape that he had added Lacewing Flies to his Confusing Concoction and the result had created a thick green mould that covered the classroom, rendering it unusable. Currently the Patil twins were stood in the classroom, looking around in disgust. "Ew, why would anyone want to meet us here?" Parvati sniffed.

"This place is disgusting." Padma agreed, casting a disgusted look at a workbench.

"That's the point." came a voice from the doorway. "I'm hoping those Order losers think so as well."

"Lestrange?" Padma frowned. "What do you want? Did you send that Elf?"

"Winky's a very loyal messenger." Selene gave a humourless smile. "Useful tools elves."

"What do you want with us?" asked Parvati.

"I know you both want in, and I'm willing to listen to your reasons as to why I should take you on."

"What do you mean?" asked Parvati. "Just so we're completely clear."

"The Death Eaters need new blood." said Selene. "And I know you both want to be on our team."

"You're right." nodded Padma. "We want in."

"Why?"

"Simple." said Parvati. "We want to burn away the old world, and create a new world in which we can be amongst the rulers.". Selene gave a dark chuckle, reminiscent of her mother.

"We all want that." she said. "What makes you two so special?"

"Our great grandfather emigrated to England shortly after our grandfathers birth. Since then, our family has been looked down on. We don't hold a 'truly pure' long lineage like other purebloods." Parvati snarled.

"Because of our heritage, the stagnated views of this world has made it impossible for our family to gain any true political power. Our options in life will forever be limited. The Light know this, and yet they do nothing. They fear backlash from the Ministry and the public too much to speak out." added Padma.

"If we don't act for ourselves, then we will forever be stuck in this limbo, as will our children, and our grandchildren.". Selene thought for a moment. The ambitious nature of their plans was trademark Slytherin.

"How did you two end up in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw?" she asked. "This is Slytherin through and through."

"Simple." Parvati grinned. "You want to hide a tree."

"You hide it in a forest." Padma finished. "Who would think that we would turn to the dark side?"

"Congratulations ladies, welcome to the dark side. I'm putting together a platoon of Death Eaters that will be trained by me personally, and act as my own personal elite group of mercenaries. You will be required to help Death Eaters on raids, you will bear the mark, and you will still be at the beck and call of the Dark Lord, but primarily, I shall be your superior officer. Does that sound like the sort of deal you would both be interested in?" Selene grinned at the two. Parvati and Padma looked to one another for a moment, then nodded at Selene.

"We're in."

"Welcome aboard. Now then, hold out your left arms." said Selene, drawing her wand. The twins held out their left arms, and allowed Selene to trace a shape. Slowly a black skull formed on their skin, the jaw unhinging and a black snake slithering its way out, and down towards their wrists. "Now, then, for your first mission."

"We are at your command, my lady." Parvati bowed, Padma following suit. 'I could get used to this.' Selene thought to herself. 'Now wonder Uncle Tom loves his job so much'.

"What I need you to do is."

James stood perfectly still in the dungeon corridor. The Invisibility Cloak he had temporarily reclaimed from Damiens trunk barely covered him as he stood hunched and pressed up against the wall. He slowly edged forward towards the door that was slightly ajar. 'What the hell are you up to, Selene?' he thought to himself. He hated himself for thinking the worst of his daughter. He hated the very thought of doubting her, hated the very idea that she might still have even a shred of loyalty to the monsters that had torn his family apart. But he figured it was better to be guilty and wrong, than to leave it untouched and regret it later. He nudged the door open, and peeked inside. There was no party, that was for certain. Instead, he saw Selene, sat on the floor, her tie loosened to hanging around her stomach. Her shirt was untucked, and her shoes had been kicked off. 'She's really made herself at home down here.' he thought. In one hand was cigarette, and in the other hand, was a nearly empty bottle of Firewhiskey. He watched as she lifted the bottle to her lips, and downed the remaining contents of the bottle. She threw the bottle across the room, lifted the cigarette. She took a few deep drags on what was left, then threw the butt into the remains of a cauldron. James took a long look at her face, and was immediately flushed with a deep sense of guilt. Her face was streaked with tears. His daughter had taken to sneaking down to a forgotten part of the castle, drinking entire bottles of super strong liquor, chain smoking and sobbing her eyes out. He watched as she stood up and withdrew a second bottle from her bag. She eyed it carefully. "Next time." she muttered, and placed it on the table. Gathering her belongings, she made for the door, closing it behind her. James didn't dare move. How could he. What could he say? If she found him here, then she'd know that he was following her, and that he didn't trust her. That would destroy the relationship that he had worked so hard to build. When he was certain that she was gone, he pulled the cloak off, picked up the bottle, cracked it open, and followed in his daughters steps.

Selene chuckled to herself as she heard the bottle crack open. Her plan had worked perfectly. She knew that James would never confront her. He was much too worried about hurting her feelings for that. She pulled a vial of Sobering Solution from her cloak and downed the contents in one, then followed it with a vial of 'Haraldson's Handy Hangover Helper.'. Alert and ready once more, she began to make her way to the Astronomy Tower.

The Astronomy tower was one of the tallest parts of Hogwarts, and also one of the only places without portraits. Selene had figured that Dumbledore would be using them as a spy network within the school, and was determined to avoid them at all costs. At the top of the Astronomy tower, she found Parvati and Padma, stood in front of Ginny, who was pressed up against the wall, both the twin's wands trained on her. "I might have known you were behind this Lestrange." Ginny spat. "You Imperiused the Patil twins. That's low, even for you."

"Imperiused? No. They've willingly joined me." said Selene, nonchalantly. "Show her your marks, ladies.". The Patils, twisted their arms slightly, so that their marks were clearly visible to the redhead.

"What do you want with me?" Ginny glared. Selene looked over the girl. Even with three Death Eaters bearing down on her, she still stood defiant. That was a trait she respected.

"To offer you what I offered them. Power. Respect. Change."

"Why the hell would I listen to you?!" she snarled. "What the hell would you want with a 'filthy blood traitor' like me?"

"I can see it in you, Weasley." Selene smirked, taking a step forward, stepping in front of the Patil twins, she cupped Ginny's cheek in her palm, and gently, soothingly even stroked the girls cheek. "The anger. The desire. You want it more than anything. You want power. You want respect. You want to be feared." she whispered softly.

"Alright!" Ginny yelled. "Alright! You're right! I hate it! I hate them! I hate being looked down on! I hate people thinking I'm weak because I'm a girl! Or because I'm small! I hate being mollycoddled because I'm the only daughter! I hate it all! I just want to burn it all down! I just want people to respect me! To feel loved! To feel powerful! To be feared!"

"I can help you, Weasley." Selene whispered in the girls ear, her arm trailing down from Ginny's shoulder, and tracing over her inner left forearm. "I can give you all that.". Ginny took a deep, shuddering breath.

"You can make me powerful?"

"More so than anyone else."

"You can make me respected?"

"I can make you revered"

"You can make me feared?"

"I can make your name the one that wakes people in the night."

"You can make me loved?" She asked, her voice a hoarse whisper. Selene leant forward and caught her lips in a gentle embrace.

"I can teach you to make anyone love you." she muttered, softly. "All I ask is that you obey me, and I will grant you the world.". Ginny took a few deep breaths, and then met Selene's gaze. The room was silent, save for Ginny's staggered breathing. Selene looked deep into the redheads eyes, their face's mere inches apart. Ginny slowly nodded.

"I accept. Please, teach me all you know.". She whispered. Selene gently kissed the girl once more, lightly tracing the symbol on Ginny's forearm with her finger.

"I promise you, Ginny." she whispered. "I shall teach you everything you could ever want. Soon, the old world will burn to the ground, and the new one will bow to us."