Noir Evans

Chapter 13: Reply

 He read the piece of parchment in his hand again and laughed to himself. The one and only Dark Lord - the man who swore to kill him - wanted to meet him - the Light's saviour and the perfect Gryffindor.

The world was a funny place.

Furthermore, he felt that Snape had somewhat caught onto him; not that he was THE Lord Evans - the practical owner of all of Knockturn Alley, but that he was up to something. Harry chuckled out loud, earning a few suspicious looks. He had been walking down a corridor in pursuit of the Owlery.

He didn't, couldn't and wouldn't sleep last night, thinking about accepting. It was preposterous. Voldemort would kill him and take over the world. Why on Earth would Harry Potter accept an invitation to meet the Dark Lord.

Then again, he couldn't decline. Voldemort, like most, had an ego. Although, being a Dark Lord and such, enlarged that ego majorly. IF a man like Noir, although he may have more respect than others, declines an invitation to meet THE Dark Lord, the madman might just take offence and that wouldn't end well for both parties.

The reasons to decline went on and on; though the positives were unimaginable. Even IF he were to meet this guy, what is to stop him from killing Harry. IF he were to meet him, what were the chances that he was to come out alive?

IF it were to be successful, what was to come of it? And what exactly was 'successful'?

There was a whole lot of IFs.

He dropped off his handwritten ad heavily warded and charmed piece of parchment and gave it to a new owl he had bought from Knockturn. It was completely jet black and could go through wards and become invisible with ease. Not many existed today but they were said to live for centuries, hiding in the shadows; with the bonus of being very cute.

~~~

It was rare for him to get letters.

All letters addressed to 'Lord Voldemort' were opened by his Death Eaters and he would only read them if they deemed it worthy. This one, however, seemed to have slipped through the wards. He scanned for anything harmful but found nothing at all. He opened the magically sealed letter and skimmed through it.

To Dark Lord Voldemort, Lord of the Ancient and Genteel House of Gaunt and the Ancient and Noble House of Slytherin,

I, Lord 'Noir Evans', humbly wish to apologise...postpone my invitation to a later date... see how this war...

He threw it into the fireplace and sat back, as he often did when he planned. He wasn't sure how long he sat there when he heard a knock at his door. Ready to Crucio whoever stood at the other side, he breathed, "Come in."

Slightly shaking, a man, no less than perhaps 25, opened the door and quickly stammered out a message, "My Lord, Lord Malfoy wishes to see you."

Voldemort fumed. Why on Earth did Lucius think it was okay to summon the Dark Lord?

Sensing his anger and slight confusion, he whimpered, "He is physically unable to, My Lord."

Voldemort went still, "What?"

~~~

It took all his might not to laugh at the scene before him. Lucius' blonde, that he was most fond of, had turned electric blue and he was in some sort of Paralysis. He constantly had to remind himself that he was THE Dark Lord to keep himself from laughing himself to Paralysis.

He was sitting on his desk holding a letter and his wand with a straight look on his face. It made it all the more spectacular. He went over to the man and tried to revive him with all the spells he knew. Soon enough, he had run out of ideas and decided to read the letter. Whatever it was, he was lucky because it didn't hurt him. On it, in familiar writing read:

Dark Lord,

Wears off in an hour,

'Noir'

In Harry's defence, he had to apologise somehow...

~~~

Unfortunately for Harry and the majority of the other students - except Hermione - the Yule break was over and they were returning to classes that day. They were stalking off to Double Potions as usual as Hermione bragged about what she had read and Ron complained about everything and everything.

"Hey-"

"-Harry!"

They turned to their second least favourite brother (Percy was first).

"Brother-"

"and Hermione."

The pair of redheads chanted as they somehow appeared behind them. Even without the map they always seemed to know where everyone was. Harry thanked Merlin, Salazar and Godric for saving him. He wasn't sure how much more ranting he could take. Fortunately for him, it was completely indecipherable, much like his handwriting.

"Hey Fred," he nodded at the slightly taller one.

"George," he nodded at the one with a slightly darker shade of hair.

"See," Fred turned to George and gestured to Harry, "This is why we don't prank him."

"He bothers to tell us apart," George added.

Harry chuckled lightly before slipping away from his friends, who were too engrossed in conversation with Gred and Forge.

~~~

Severus was about to change into his sleeping robes, looking forward to a good night's sleep until the familiar burning sensation came onto his arm. He cursed under his breath and before he knew it, he was standing before the Dark Lord, who was suspiciously joyous, as if he was biting back a laugh.

Tom turned on his heel and Severus took it as a sign to follow him. To his surprise, they were led to Lucius' study. His eyes landed on the man, seemingly in Paralysis, on his desk chair. His eyes finally went to the man's hair and, for the first time in a smile, he laughed.

He wanted to congratulate whoever did this...

The Dark Lord, too, chuckled and turned to the Potions Master.

"I can't seem to undo the effects, Severus."

Severus stopped laughing and turned to Voldemort. What kind of prank couldn't be undone by him. His knowledge of Charms, Curses and Runes was inexplicable. Whoever did this must have been a genius.

He pulled out his case with an Undetectable-Expansion Charm on it and sat it down on the floor. Walking over to the study, he pulled out his wand and began to cast Diagnostic Charms. They detected nothing. He gave a confused glance to his Lord and the man just nodded.

Severus raised an eyebrow, "My Lord, do you know who is responsible for this?"

Voldemort gestured to the letter, which he had not noticed at all. He could normally see through Notice-Me-Not Charms. He went over to Lucius' shoulder and read it. With confusion written on his face, he turned to the Dark Lord once again, "Lord Evans?"

Ok, now he was panicking. This seemed too much like the Potter Brat. A prank? On Lucius of all people? This could not have been possible. At least he knew that Potter wasn't working for the Dark Lord.

On the other hand, how on Earth would Potter of all people know to trick him and not to mention the Dark Lord!?

It was obviously not Potter. It couldn't be. Of all people, Potter couldn't outsmart anyone. Perhaps, although he would never admit it, the Granger girl could, but for some unknown reason, they seemed less friendly lately. Not that anyone noticed. As a spy, Severus had to pick a few things up.

"There's nothing I can do, My Lord."

The Dark Lord nodded, chuckling.