Not Who You Think

Twenty-Four

Hadrian calmly dressed in his basilisk hide duelling robes, before double-checking that his wand and his daggers were strapped to him, and that his belt was fully stocked and secure around his waist. He was probably going a bit overboard – it wasn't a mission or anything, he wasn't even leaving the manor – but he wanted to make sure that he was fully prepared. Today was the day he was attending his first Death Eaters meeting and, pressing his mask to his face, he was ready to go.

He wasn't actually attending a full Death Eater meeting – he didn't think everyone would leave unscathed if he had to deal with some of the idiots he knew made up the Outer Circle. Instead, he was just arriving at the end of the meeting, to be introduced – they knew about the Caecus Phantoms but hadn't met any of them yet – and would then be present for the Elite meeting that was going to be held afterwards.

Prince let the shadows engulf him, stepping out of them just outside the doors to the large meeting room at Malfoy Manor. His father only let his most trusted Death Eater – the seven Elite and thirteen Inner Circle – into his home, so the bigger meetings, the ones that included the Middle Circle – twenty-one people – the Outer Circle, and occasionally the Junior Death Eaters, were held in Malfoy Manor. Prince sent through a quick jab of question to Basilisk using their connection – it came in handy now that they were both aware of it and had practiced using it – and received a flash of acceptance. So, after opening the connection like Ginny had asked, Prince shadows directly into the meeting room, landing in the shadows just behind his fathers throne, keeping the shadows up around him, hiding him from the Death Eaters in the room.

He watched as a twitching Death Eater pulled himself off the floor, clearly having just finished receiving a punishment.

"What did the idiot do?" he asked, not moving from the shadows he was hidden in, watching as the Death Eaters shivered at the hissing that they could hear but not work out where it was coming from.

"They are all simply incompetent. They can not understand even the simplest of orders," Basilisk replied. Prince smirked as the Death Eaters shifted, now uncomfortable; they knew their Lord was communicating with someone or something, but they had no clue who or what they were, or where they were.

"Surely the Elite and the Inner Circle are not as bad. What about this one in particular?"

"You are right. This one believed he could waste my time with stuttered reports of failure."

"How disappointing and annoying."

"Quite."  Basilisk shifted from Parseltongue and back to English, once again addressing his Death Eaters.

"You know the consequences of disappointing me and wasting my time. Attempt to not do it again. There is one more thing needed to be addressed before I dismiss you. I believe I have told you all about the Caecus Phantoms and how they are our allies?" The Death Eaters all around the room nodded and murmured their ascent, with "yes, my Lord," being the most apparent agreement.

"I believe it is time that you meet one of our esteemed allies. One of the leaders of the Caecus Phantoms, Prince," Basilisk said, and Prince stepped out of the shadows and to the side of the throne that the Dark Lord was sitting on. He smirked at the reactions from the Death Eaters, the Ducklings showing their surprise as well as they could without their faces visible behind their masks.

"Death Eaters. Dark Lord. It's a pleasure to attend your meeting," Prince said, inclining his head in greeting.

"Prince will be coming to some of our meetings so that our allies are aware of what we are doing and to coordinate their plans with ours. You will treat him with the same amount of respect as you treat myself."