Bellatrix, surprisingly enough, stepped forward first, before kneeling in a submissive posture. "We do not wish to harm you my Lord." If one were to listen closely they would have picked out the slight purr in the older woman's voice, but most ignored it.
"Oh? So now you wish me no harm hm?"
"No, my Lord," she continued. "They… we were wrong, and we wish to serve you."
Lucius, who had been released from the Magical hold moments prior, finally caught enough of his breath to chime in as well, "That is what I wanted to show you my Lord, they wish to follow…"
The boy's laughter echoed through the large room, earning winces from the Death Eaters, "Draco, would you mind explaining why I might be a bit reluctant to agree to such a thing?"
After pausing for a moment, the blonde spoke up, "Loyalty, if they truly were loyal to Voldemort then they are probably going to try and betray you. If they have joined you then that means their faithfulness is fickle and weak, they might betray you if someone else has more gold or shows more power."
One of the nameless individuals began protesting immediately, "Th-that isn't true! You would trust a child over us!?"
Harry took on a 'thinking' pose for all of three seconds before nodding, "Of course I would. Draco has served me loyally since my first year at Hogwarts, whereas I doubt if I can name even a third of you. But I am not without prudence, and thus I shall give you all time to make your choice. anyone who wishes may return here no later than one week from now and make their arguments, or offers, just as each of my current followers has done. Those who have second thoughts will have no penalty and will be released, just keep in mind… I do not tolerate betrayal from my followers, especially those without use to me."
...
Bellatrix Lestrange rolled her eyes in annoyance as she overheard her husband talking to another handful of former followers of the Dark Lord. It had been almost adorable, for the first day or so, how the man went about trying to gather the cooperation of others to mount a future coup.
Adorable, up until the point it had begun pissing her off. Was he truly stupid enough to believe that a handful of third-rate duelists would be able to take down the boy who had destroyed the most powerful Dark Lord of the past century?
Based upon the excited whispering Bella decided that yes, he was.
"I'm telling you this is how it starts . Allowing a Mudblood into our ranks? His inner circle being composed of children !?"
And it was, the former Black daughter noted. Harry's friends had arrived a few hours prior, them being several, rather pretty, young girls including the blonde from the graveyard, and he had since spent his time with them and his godfathers in private conversations. It was clear that his 'inner circle' had mostly been chosen, which merely meant she had to work a bit harder to convince him that she was also worthy of being a part of it.
Interesting enough Lucius, despite being the owner of the mansion, had not been purview to several of these meetings.
Perhaps if she could convince her younger sister into starting a threesome with their new lord, and maybe giving up her idiot of a husband, he would accept her?
...
"You summoned me, my Lord?"
The boy-who-lived gave a curt nod and gestured toward a chair opposite him, the Malfoy Lord immediately noticed that the rest of the teen's chosen 'inner circle' were also in the room, along with his own wife.
"We need to have a chat Lucius, about a few things that have happened recently. You see the problem I am faced with currently is how exactly to deal with you. As I have told the others I do not tolerate betrayal and you have done so several times now."
The man gulped nervously before beginning another apology, only to be silenced halfway through, "My first train of thought had been to have something dark and horrible slowly eat you alive in front of the others as an example… but it occurred to me that such a thing might be a bit traumatizing for Draco here. Next I figured I could just torture you for a few weeks until I grew bored, however the problem with this is that it would undoubtedly make you even more useless, and I have already granted you the position of Minister, despite you screwing it up. Now I could easily choose another but doing so and getting them elected would probably take me several days and quite frankly I am tired of wasting my valuable time on such things."
Nodding, the blonde's mind raced towards what his eventual punishment would be. Would he be disowned? Humiliated? Sent to Azkaban?
"After a few minutes of continued considerations I have come to a compromise. You see I realized that your betrayal was due to the notion you have that you are somehow more important than you truly are. That you are far more useful and powerful than your current status, I believe it is time to correct this error in judgment. Thus for the remainder of the summer you will be assigned the role of 'servant' to my closest allies. If they tell you to do something I expect you to do it regardless of what it may be. Now there will be certain limits such as breaking my rules or betraying me further but otherwise I expect your cooperation, and it goes without saying that these tasks will be done by you, no House Elves are to aid in this."
"B-but my Lord…" the man winced at his own, rather whiny, tone. "Surely there is something else that I can…"
The boy frowned in annoyance, "You know we can always go back to the idea of having you believe you are on fire for the next few months…"
"No! No this will be fine my Lord, thank you for your generosity."
Harry gave another nod, before rising and turning to the others, adults and teens alike, "I have matters to attend to, I am sure you all will inform Lucius of his duties hm?"
More than one devilish grin appeared as the Potter heir departed and attention shifted to the Malfoy Lord, who suddenly felt like he had become targeted by a pack of hungry predators.
"Oh Lucius darling ." Sirius Black called out, earning a sigh from the other man. "I think we should set a few ground rules before we get into the more… fun parts of the next few months."
Mentally reminding himself than any humiliation would be infinitely better than the alternatives, the Pureblood nodded and stepped forward, "And what would those be Black?"
"Well first off we need to work on this language of yours. I think that proper titles are more suitable hm? In my case you will refer to me as 'Lord Padfoot', and obviously Remus will be 'Lord Moony'. I am sure the others will have their own ideas but regardless of whom you are addressing I think that thanks is a proper response for any command we give. I mean we are saving your life after all."
" Thank you " the man practically growled out, "Lord Padfoot, for your generosity ."
The Black Lord waved him off, "You are quite welcome Lucy darling, you don't mind if I call you 'Lucy' do you? It just seems so fitting after all."
"Oooo perhaps we could find him a nice maid outfit to wear." Luna chimed in, earning a glare from the man while several others grinned.