In Too Far: Volume Two

Summary: Sequel to In Too Far: Volume One. Following Voldemort's downfall, Gwen is growing ever more suspicious of Barty; Sander and Martijn are dragged into the hunt for the Death Eaters and Peter Pettigrew is looking for revenge.

Rating: As it stands, T. Language is likely to be at the same level as part one (i.e. strong and moderately frequent.) There may be more graphic sex and violence to come later on (or in part three!) so I'll change the rating as is necessary.

A/N: Picking up directly where we left off.

Disclaimer: I own Gwen and her relatives and Sander and his relatives, and as of now that's pretty much it.

Part Two, Chapter One

"Godric's Hollow."

With those two words, the Potter's location was revealed. All the plotting, manipulation, bargaining... it all came down to just four syllables that held the key to all the Death Eaters had strived for.

Voldemort smiled; the cruel, satisfied leer of a man who had gotten exactly what he wanted, and was now savouring the thought of how we would use it. "Thank you, Wormtail," he hissed. "Your service will be rewarded."

After a moment of basking in the anticipation of his victory, Voldemort straightened up and rounded on his Death Eaters to begin giving out orders. Pettigrew was quickly disregarded. "My loyal followers, this is the moment we have been waiting for. We cannot allow time for the Potters become aware of this treachery: we must make our move now. Bellatrix, Rabastan, Lestrange, Rookwood, you will accompany me to Godric's Hollow. The aurors will no doubt be on us very quickly after the attack and I'll need my best nearby. Avery, Yaxley, Crabbe, Snape – where is Snape? Of all of you, Snape should be here. His absence will be punished – Goyle, you instead. I want you on standby. If the Potters are under guard I may need additional forces. Wormtail, you will show us exactly where they are. The rest of you, wait here for my return. For when we do come back, we shall celebrate our greatest victory of the war!" And with that he grabbed Wormtail by the shoulder and disapparated in a swirl of black mist, followed soon after by the Death Eaters he had named.

Barty looked round at the eight or so Death Eaters remaining standing in the hall and scowled bitterly – something which Lucius Malfoy seemed to notice. "What is it, Crouch?"

"Why not me? Why couldn't I go with him, since you're all so desperate for me to prove my loyalty?"

Malfoy scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, boy, you don't have the necessary experience."

Barty remained scowling while he voiced the other thing that irked him, "And how come he gets a new name?"

The elder Death Eater seemed rather irritated by his complaining. "What?"

"How come I get stuck with the exact same stupid name as my father but he gets to choose something else to be known by? How is that fair?"

Malfoy smirked. "Because your father, boy, isn't so much one of the Dark Lord's enemies, just a minor annoyance."

Barty glared at him. He didn't like his father, but thought the man deserved to be known as more than a 'minor annoyance'.

There was a hostile silence between them as the other Death Eaters began milling about the hall, wondering how they were supposed to pass the time during which they weren't needed. After about fifteen minutes, Barty thought he could hear the sound of an infant crying from somewhere in the house, and Malfoy excused himself to go and see to his wife and son. Barty cast a look of disgust at his back as he left the hall – he didn't like children at the best of times, but no doubt any son of Malfoy's was even worse.

Several of the Death Eaters had struck up conversations with each other now, but once again Barty noticed he was being avoided. They still didn't accept him as one of them, and although he resented it he didn't blame them. He hadn't properly managed to fulfill the requirements of the task the Dark Lord had set him, having only managed to provide half of the money, which proved to be redundant anyway. They were no doubt now all suspicious of what had gone on between him and Pettigrew to make Wormtail change his mind. Barty scowled, imagining all the things he'd like to do to Pettigrew for screwing up his chances with the Death Eaters, and began wondering what the rat had wanted the money for in the first place.

After a few more minutes his thoughts began to drift to Gwen, and he worried she might think him uncultured if she knew he was absolutely clueless when it came to the opera they were supposed to be seeing on Saturday. Barty thought he should make the effort to find out more about it, but didn't know who to ask. His mother would probably know, but he didn't want to ask her. Lucius Malfoy would probably know as well, and if Barty were to ask him that would probably annoy him no end. Barty smiled, thinking that was all the more reason for him to ask.

When Malfoy returned to the hall several minutes later Barty was the first to attempt to make conversation with him. "Lucius." Malfoy gave Barty a look of utter contempt for daring to address him by his first name, and Barty felt a wave of satifaction.

"What, Crouch?"

"Are you familiar with the opera Les Mysteres?"

Malfoy looked like he couldn't for the life of him work out why he was being asked. "Yes," he replied icily.

"What is it about?"

Malfoy gave him a look that clearly showed his annoyance, but at the same time he couldn't resist answering. Barty knew he was the one Death Eater who liked to consider himself cultured. "It's about a man whose life is being controlled by an esoteric organisation of wizards, and they give him the choice to live as their servant or die as a free man. But he's due to be married to a girl he thinks is the only thing that makes a life of servitude worth living, so when she leaves him for another man he chooses to die."

Barty thought it sounded interesting, but not the kind of thing he would have imagined Gwen liking. "Is it any good?"

Malfoy put on an expression Barty knew he thought made him look like an art critic. "It's decent; not Mickelwal's best. L'Imperatrice was far superior."

Barty was about to ask what L'Imperatrice was about when they were interrupted by somebody apparating into the hall.

All the other Death Eaters turned quickly to look at their comrade who had just arrived in what was clearly a state of panic. His mask was gone and his hooded robes in a state of disarray, and they could all recognise him as Rookwood. He seemed frightened. "Something's gone wrong."

"What?" The question came urgently from Yaxley.

Rookwood shook his head, "We don't know, but the Dark Lord….he's disappeared, or so it seems. So has Pettigrew. There are aurors swarming over Godric's Hollow and Ministry officials everywhere, we need to get out of here before they send somebody round to contact Malfoy, which they no doubt will do. And we need to find Pettigrew."

At that, near chaos seemed to erupt in the hall as Death Eaters began shouting at each other, demanding to know what was going on. Some disapparated immediately, but were quickly replaced by Bellatrix and Rodolphus returning from Godric's Hollow. Barty noticed Bellatrix looked furious. As Malfoy started up a shouting match with Rookwood as to why he should expect someone to turn up at his house, Barty ran over to her. "Bellatrix!" She turned to look at him, but a manic glare was the only response she gave. "What happened?"

"He's gone," she replied in a voice that seemed slightly crazed, "but we'll find him. You're loyal, aren't you Crouch?"

He nodded quickly. "Then we'll find him. He needs followers like us. Not like these!" she suddenly shouted, gesturing at all the Death Eaters who were yelling at each other and many of whom had already disapparated. "Look at them running scared! Trying to get away! You only care for yourselves, you treacherous little leeches!" she shrieked, and Barty felt rather intimidated by this sudden display of mad rage.

Very quickly though, Rodolphus had moved beside her and grabbed hold of her to calm her down. "Yes, Bella, we will find him," he said with a sense of urgency in his voice, "But first we need to make sure they don't find us. We need to get out of here." Then he turned Barty, "Get back to your father, boy, and lie low for a couple of days. Make sure nobody knows you were gone."

Barty nodded, and immediately after Rodolphus and Bellatrix had disapparated he did the same. He found himself standing in the darkness of his bedroom, which seemed unnaturally quiet in contrast to the hall, and he realised he was shaking. He slowly lowered himself onto his bed and tried to take deep breaths to calm himself from the fear and panic he was feeling. What could possibly have gone wrong?