Chapter 3

I reappeared near the Longbottoms' hiding place, a cottage surrounded by picturesque greenery. Their Fidelius had collapsed. It should take me about ten minutes to take down the rest of the outside defenses without drawing attention. An alarm would still sound once I enter, but it could be blocked from alerting anyone else.

I began casting spells: disable the alarm connected directly to the Order of the Phoenix; disable the alarm connected to their family manor (probably to Augusta Longbottom); block the soporific charms; block the activation of outer perimeter golems; block the automatic spell system that shoots waves of Stupefy and Perfecticus at intruders. Luckily for me this was not a family manor- even a Dark Lord would not have enough energy to shut down all the defense systems in one of those without help.

Their plants were a little concerning: Venomous Tentacula, Sopophorous Beans, and especially that strange-looking vine surrounding the entire house. They all clearly were a part of the defense system, but Tom had no knowledge of how to quietly circumvent guardian plants. Maybe call the Lestranges? Or even better, a dozen of Death Eaters? Sit back and watch my servants win from a safe distance. A good idea, if it weren't for several "buts."

First, I had plans for Neville. The Longbottoms were one of the Order's largest sponsors. After Frank, Alice and the granny die, Neville will inherit everything, even if the accounts stay frozen until he becomes a legal adult. If Malfoy's legal team helped Bella get custody, I would deprive the old man of the money he would otherwise receive from Neville and get it for myself. Counting on a group of Death Eaters to be careful enough not to kill a child while fighting his parents was... not wise. And even if the boy survived, it would birth rumors that the the Dark Lord spares enemy children. Many of my servants wouldn't understand.

Second, I needed to test my fighting abilities. Even though Alice and Frank were both capable Aurors and we would fight on their territory, Riddle's memory suggested they were no match for him. Therefore, I was going to do this alone.

I prepared wards against apparition and communication, tying them to myself. Then decided to add redundancy. The air simmered with anti-apparation and anti-communication runes. After thinking some more, I drew the same runes on rocks and placed them all around the cottage. I was finally confident they would not be able to escape or call for help.

After a while, I received a signal from Wormtail: he met up with Dumbledore. How did he relay it? Very easily: before framing Black, he drank a potion. A mostly useless potion with one interesting side effect. The speed at which it is metabolized was proportional to the power of wizards around you (with the exception of the one who brewed it, in this case Lord Voldemort). The Dark Mark may not allow me to eavesdrop on my servants, but I could sense their basic health level. And Pettigrew's suddenly dropped low enough to indicate a stroke, which he should have as soon as the potion stopped working. No reason to be concerned - any decent mediwizard could take care of it, and he had Dumbledore. This will keep Albus busy far away from the Longbottom residence and delay his arrival if everything went south. I could, of course, hit them with something quick and powerful like Fiendfyre. But then Neville would die, and I would lose two adult wizarding bodies.

It was time to attack. I still haven't thought of what to do with the accursed plants. Perhaps a strong Firestorm? It should burn through the entire grounds, preventing the Longbottoms from escaping through a window. The cottage looked sturdy, its walls charmed to withstand fire. And I would cancel it once we engaged.

I really didn't like the look of their doors and windows- stronger than the walls and covered with additional alarms. They were blocking me from sensing the Longbottoms, so I did not see the best place to enter.

But I had to act. I checked my concealment charms and entered my first battle. With a flick of the wand the runes lit up, cutting off apparation, floo, two-way mirrors and so on. Another wave- and several hectares of land caught on fire. The walls held. My shields protected me from fire as I levitated myself towards the house.

An overpowered shield penetrator punched a carriage-size hole in the wards. A Bombarda brought down most of the front wall. The fire bursting in with me hit an invisible wall of fireproof charms. As soon as I crossed the threshold, something latched on and tried to tamper with my magic's regeneration. Some of my simple charms like Chameleon and the sound shield nearly got dispelled. This is what I get for fighting in enemy territory!

The house interior looked suspiciously like a greenhouse. Not surprisingly, all of the plants were hostile. I burned them. The ones that refused to burn normally got a taste of concentrated blue fire. Some vine tried to grapple me. Thorns flew at me from all directions, followed by pollen. Pollen that triggered the acid shield. They all got disintegrated by my shield of dust. I kept getting attacked by furniture, statues and a stuffed owl.

A lesser wizard may have been squished like a bug, but I only felt annoyed at having to waste magic. I was also concerned with their ability to detect me. How could magical plants ignore concealment charms? Some charms even dissipated as the plants touched my shields.

The revealing charm showed three live humans. I flew towards the signal, blasting the walls in front of me. Unable to floo, apparate, call for help (wards) or escape through the windows (fire), the Longbottoms made the only remaining right choice: hide the child and run towards me. I greeted them with killing curses. They dodged and answered with a barrage of stunning, disarming and revealing spells. That dispelled most of my outer camouflage charms, making me appear as a hazy sphere about five meters in diameter.

I blocked Frank's acid burst, reflected Alice's sonic wave and cast multiple killing curses back at them. Too many to dodge, especially in a confined space. (How was the house still standing? More than half of the walls were gone. Must be magically reinforced.)

Tom's favorite curse was extremely useful. It ignored all shields, killed the victim instantly and painlessly by severing the soul from the body and left the body in pristine condition for necromancy. Unfortunately, it was primarily tailored to humanoid energy channels and would not kill something very different and powerful, like a dragon. And it could still be dodged or blocked by placing a human or a sturdy object in its way...

Which is why I cast two more nonverbal spells immediately ahead of the Avada ray: cancellation of transfiguration and a blast just strong enough to get rid of any objects shielding the Longbottoms without penetrating their shields. Debris gathered in front of them got blasted away, transfigured furniture turned back into air.

The fight should be over. But no. House elves! Five of those little bastards suddenly appeared in front of their masters and took all the Avadas. I cursed inwardly. My wards stopped them from leaving the grounds, but they could still apparate as they pleased inside the perimeter. Five more appeared behind me and tried to attack. The first one burned, the second dropped with organ failure, the third's head exploded, the fourth got gutted, the fifth got turned inside out.

Getting angry, I threw a wave of raw magic at the Longbottoms. The last of my camouflage charms disappeared. The Longbottoms showed amazing team work. Frank shielded them both from my onslaught of magic- it looked like he could hold on for two more seconds. Meanwhile, Alice attacked me with some deadly family special. My shield held, but apparently it was only a diversion tactic.

I thought I burned all the plants. And I did. Above ground. While I was busy fighting humans, roots crept up under me and attacked. Good thing Riddle was so paranoid- his first shield was a perfect sphere that reached underground, and a duplicate shield covered the entire body like a second skin. Root that touched the sphere immediately turned to dust. But the rest tried to drown me in acid, swarm me with sleeping powder, strangle me, absorb my energy... And my magic reserve kept lowering.

I canceled my attack on Frank and the Fire Storm outside. The roots changed their strategy and pushed me out of the house. It felt like I was in a spherical aquarium made of plants. Since they weren't able to overcome my defenses, they must have decided to simply move me away from their masters. Turning to death magic, I released a wave of energy and willed for the plants to die. This ate a fifth of my reserve, but at least I felt all of the plants and roots turn into dust this time.

I was standing before the ruined house. The Longbottoms were casting explosive charms. Why did everything have to be so difficult? Why couldn't they forget their wands, attack me with their bare hands, live in a non-magical house without golems, attack plants, house elves... Why couldn't they be more like James Potter?

"I am Lord Voldemort! I am satisfied with the test of your abilities! Join me!" I announced. Of course they won't, but it might stun them for a moment.

Their answer came in a form of two killing curses. They must have not recognized me without the reptilian face, then. But once they knew I was Voldemort, they decided to kill me by any means- life in Azkaban or not. Although... Maybe they thought Moody would get them off the hook.

I dodged easily. Under the acceleration charm and the acceleration potion, I moved only a bit slower than their Avadas. I answered with stunners, but they were absorbed by their shields.

The Longbottoms cast more killing curses. Except this time one of them went first, and the other aimed at the direction I dodged. I really didn't like this hopscotch with death. I filled the space between us with thransfigured pieces of wood and thickened air. Condense the air, increase the volume - and a water whip went flying towards Frank, twisting around obstacles. He put up a shiled. I wrapped water around it in an attempt to crush it- their brazenness had irked me to the point of not caring about the condition of their corpses.

While Frank was fighting the pressure, I threw a Sphere of Decay at Alice- nothing complicated, but it should flatten her with its sheer amount of energy. I didnt't see or feel a shield against it on her. But once again my plans went south. Before the sphere could reach Alice, it got absorbed by a large dark surface. The Dark Plane is definitely the most effective way to defend against decay curses but also very illegal...

Alice threw seeds at her husband. (Was she keeping them in her night gown?) I've done some gardening in my previous life and have seen seeds swell with water. But for five seeds to absorb several tons of water with no increase in size? I couldn't help but stare in astonishment, even pausing my battery of stunners.

Taking advantage of my momentarily stumble, the Longbottoms launched another coordinated attack: Frank with fire, Alice with ice. Moody trained them well. The idea was simple: I had enough spare energy to use a strong universal shield instead of several specialized ones. Reflecting two opposite elements simultaneously would put it under enormous strain and allow their third hit through. But enhanced speed gave me time to put up separate fire and ice shields, absorbing the elemental part of their attack. The universal shield took care of spells from their amulets (lightning from Alice's and poisonous thorns from Frank's). Their non-verbal wandless stunners caught me completely by surprise, but the shield held them off.

What could I say? Above and beyond any expectations. I was down to half of my reserve, having spent more than both of theirs put together. Luck was clearly not on my side- I would not even be surprised if Albus suddenly decided to drop by. I should have stayed at the Lestranges' and invited Bella to my bed. Now I had to win this fight to get back there.

"I will spare your lives if you join me," I offered again. "No need to spill pure blood."

Instead of an answer I got an explosion. Interesting. Apparently they pushed a lot of oxygen towards me and ignited it. The debris I was using to stop Avadas all burned away.

"I don't hear your answer," I said, casting a mix of stunners and killing curses.

They cast Avadas back at me. It was well past the time to finish this. But how? Blow everything up? Fiendfyre? Or keep going until they got exhausted? I sent conjured snakes at them with orders to kill. The snakes got hit with Imperiuses and ordered to kill me instead. I vanished them and began again:

"You don't even need a reason to join me. We are already on the same side!"

I sent large pieces of wall flying at them. While they were busy defending from the remains of their house, I inconspicuously arranged dust into a giant rune "stop" under Alice. Once the rune was imbued with magic, it trapped Alice in place. I cast the killing curse at her, simultaneously sending countless rocks and transfigured birds at Frank to stop him from interfering. At last, my Avada striked true- Alice was dead. Minus one! I was happy!

"NO!" screamed Frank, throwing Avadas and Cruicios at me.

Rage made him fierce but predictable. I assaulted his mind. He was protected by an amulet and occlumency, so I couldn't subdue his will (well, technically I could- just immobilize him, take off the amulet and give me twenty minutes).

Still, my attempt to control him and conjure hallucinations was nothing but a distraction. Fighting a battle in his head, he did not notice me creating an illusion- not legilimency but an actual illusion he could see with his eyes. He thought I attacked him with Night's Shadow - a nice, powerful, self-guiding dark curse. As an experienced Auror, Frank made the best choice and countered it with Carpus Bonom. But Night's Shadow was merely an illusion covering up the good old killing curse which doesn't care about shields. And Frank joined his wife.

"Finally!" I exclaimed, transfiguring their bodies into miniature statues and putting them in my pocket. They will make exceptional liches.

I got little carried away here, hopefully Neville was still alive. Detection charms showed nothing. Strange. A second of flight and I was in the nursery. There was an odd haze covering the baby's bed.

As I was casting the human revealing charm, something launched at me from behind and got disintegrated by my shield. Must have been the last house elf. After its death, I could clearly sense Neville. His parents must have left him in the elf's care before coming out to fight. The elf saved the boy from explosions and carbon monoxide and then tried to save him from me. I transfigured stunned Neville into a plush toy and took him with me.

Fly out of the ruins. Fiendfyre. Magic interference charms. Astral Cacophony. The Dark Mark. Eat that! Now determining what exactly transpired here was next to impossible. Except the fact that everyone was dead, Neville included.

After a series of apparitions to prevent tracking, I finally got back to the Lestranges' manor. I earned a rest. Magic reserve got depleted to about a quarter. Good thing I didn't try to storm the ministry, or they would have buried me there.