Chapter 158: Looming Death

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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15 October 1993, Britain

As he did every day, Augustus Rookwood woke up in pain, hating having to serve the madman who had saved his life and what a miserable life it was. He was one of the most reputed Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries, the one who let nothing stand in his way in the name of progress. Every single project he had taken was a resounding success and he was on his track to become the Head of the Department.

People had no idea what happened in that department, and it was better that way. Unspeakables were the epitome of what mages were supposed to be. They recruited not the most powerful wizards and witches in Magical Britain, but those who showed the most curiosity, and the desire to go the extra mile to see the possibilities. Unspeakables honed their magic and advanced their fields as much as possible no matter the cost.

There were many sub-departments that you could rotate to as much as you wanted until you found your specialized field. Rookwood had tried out most of them, from the study of ancient artefacts and enchantments to Alchemy, and even Divination. He even spent a year learning necromancy for a while, but he had no talent in the field and found it tasteless. They weren't always useful; the study of time and death were dead ends even if the odd Unspeakable would try their hands every once in a while, but the possibilities were endless. Augustus found his place in the curse room. He always had an affinity for them, coming up with diverse ways to discretely cast a curse and even incorporate them into other fields.

It's not like curses were always that harmful. They were charms that were designed to leave traces of the magic and could directly affect the magical channels of the victim, often in negative ways. But Augustus did make headways in using curses to combat other curses. There was even the possibility of weakening or even neutralizing lycanthropy using it, and a lot of uses in magical healing. It was the project that would have made his rise as Department Head an inevitability.

Alas, things did not always go according to plan. Albus Dumbledore ended up spearheading a bill to limit the 'inhuman experimentations' in the Department of Mysteries. Sure, there was a point to the fact that some of the things done there were distasteful, but every single subject was either a criminal who would have been on a one-way trip to Azkaban or a volunteer. And without any subjects, the department came to a halt. Augustus' research was deemed unsafe, and it was like everything he had done for years had never happened.

Saul Croaker, the traitor who was the head of the department at the time, accepted the decision of the Wizengamot, and Dumbledore sunk his claws into the department, the only place that was untouched by his constant desire to halt magical progress and experimentation.

It was why Augustus even joined the Dark Lord. He didn't care about blood purity; it was a useless concept. In this world, only legacy and power mattered, and if just had one of them, you became important. The idea that half-bloods were lesser was meaningless, even if muggleborns rarely ever reached the power requirements to make any sort of contribution to their society. Although, they could be useful as a working force, nothing more.

He could also tell that the Dark Lord didn't believe it either. He just wanted to gain power, to topple Dumbledore. Augustus wasn't really convinced until the man offered to swear an unbreakable vow. Now, generally, this was a bad idea. These vows were barely used before the statute to make sure that the terms of surrender after a battlefield would remain. If you broke them, you died. There were no warnings, no second chances, nothing. Even Unspeakables didn't use them to guarantee their secrecy.

The dark lord vowed to make him the head of the department and to remove all the bills that Dumbledore made regarding the department, within a year after he defeated Gellert Grindelwald, in return Augustus vowed to give him any knowledge he had in the department of mysteries as long as he was asked by the dark lord personally. That was a risky move on his part too but there was still enough wiggle room. For example, if Augustus ran away and disappeared, then he wouldn't have to do anything. He even had a plan ready in case the Dark Lord would try to cheat their agreement in some way, but Lord Voldemort was a man of his word.

Oh, the man was unstable, and his condition worsened over the years. He couldn't tell what was causing it because of the frankly ridiculous number of rituals that the man put himself through just to achieve this kind of power. A bad interaction between rituals was very likely.

Still, the dark lord respected him and his knowledge. He rarely asked for his knowledge and did not abuse his vow. Even if he took his rage on his other incompetent followers, Rookwood remained safe. Plus, he only participated in raids while masked, so his position in the department of mysteries was safe, until the man's defeat at the hand of the Longbottom welp, where his fellow death-eaters started to turn on one another.

Whatever happened in Longbottom manor was unexpected, but it was theorized that the killing curse could be blocked or even redirected by a shield that was designed to resist the spell's magical neutralizing agent. It was probably something some kind of energy that wasn't magic, considering the circumstances, some kind of manifestation of the soul using an alchemy-based ritual performed by one of the boy's parents. He didn't think something like this would work without blowing up in someone's face, but that was the most logical explanation.

But the aftermath of Lord Voldemort's defeat was simple. Rookwood's secrecy was now in the air, and he was ambushed by Aurors after someone tattled. He did put up a good fight, a good dozen of his attackers died, but there were just too many and his magic was getting strained. He didn't say anything during his trial, accepting the life sentence to Azkaban because he knew something that they didn't.

The dark lord was still alive. He could still sense their vow and he had researched the dark mark the moment he was branded to find a way to escape it. It was possible, but it would be very expensive and risky. His lord was weakened but he would not go willing to that goodnight.

So, he waited in Azkaban for his lord to return. In a way, that was lucky. He was a high-profile target and thus was turned into Azkaban. The Department of Mysteries did not suffer traitors. Before Dumbledore's reforms, his fate wouldn't have been just death but turned into an experimental subject in a project. Death was just so wasteful. 

Days turned to months, and months turned to years. He was starting to lose hope. His mental exercises resisted the dementor's influence at first, but he could tell that he was withering away. There were just too many dementors all the time. They relished breaking him, but he did not succumb to madness like the others did even if it was close. He knew that his lord would be back one day, and he would be free once more.

The Azkaban was destroyed.

He was rescued by a person that even more unstable than his old master. He didn't even know that if it was a man or a woman. Their voice was soft enough to be either. It was obviously fake, so as to not reveal any clues.

"Rise and shine, Rookie. Today is a very important day," the aggravating voice sang like it did every morning.

He really wanted to curse the thing. It was possible. He wasn't chained like he was when he came to this disgusting muggle home. He even had his wand with him. The former Unspeakable looked at it for a fraction of a second but it seemed like his captor saw his intent, but was quickly slapped in the face, "Now, now. That's no way to treat a gracious host. Remember what happened to poor Rosier when he tried to escape? It would be such a bother for it to also happen to you."

Augustus winced at the memory. Evan Rosier was still prideful after Azkaban, even if he was half-mad. While Augustus chose to analyze his captor's psyche, Rosier tried to escape the moment he had his wand. He was even successful for a couple of hours when the thing wasn't there to watch them. However, it wasn't soon after that they all learned that their captor's madness didn't mean that they weren't any less dangerous. The thing easily found their fellow death eater. Evan's death was slow and quite painful, considering the man's screams. His decapitated head was still under display in the living room. He and Dolohov decided not to aggravate the thing holding them hostage. They learned to fear the masked freak. Dolohov tried to be subtle and add a few delayed curses on things their captor touched, yet nothing came of it. Whatever their captor was, they had some kind of magical resistance and that made them a lot more dangerous than he thought they were.

"My apologies. I am not a morning person," Augustus slowly responded.

"Oh, that's fine. It's expected that pets try to piss on the rug every once in a while. You just have to remind them not to do it again."

The former unspeakable gulped and nodded. He really didn't know what this freak of nature was.

His captor started to giggle, "Oh, silly me. I forgot why I woke you up so early. Today, you and Dolohov can finally leave the house. Isn't that exciting?"

The former Unspeakable simply nodded and followed after his captor towards the living room. It was quite quaint for a loathsome muggle residence, but it was better than a cell. Dolohov was already here, looking slightly more excited. The former duelling champion was probably looking forward to leaving this place, not that he blamed him. But Rookwood knew that the sadistic thing keeping them captive wasn't letting them go to their benefit.

"So, like I told you, today is your lucky day. You're finally going to see the outside world after over a decade. Unfortunately, this will be for business not pleasure. But there's no reason that you can't have fun too. He, He, He."

Augustus repressed the urge to shiver at the thing's giggle, "What do you want?"

"I want an army," the thing simply responded, "I want you two to get the band back together. Get a few of your Death Eater buddies together for a little attack that I'm planning. They don't have to be strong or anything, just some grunts. Bring Greyback and his pack if you can."

"I wouldn't betray my lord and my comrades like that. I didn't do it after years in Azkaban, why would I do it to you?" Dolohov exclaimed.

What a foolish move. Rookwood prepared to see his former comrade lose his head, but their captor snickered, "I could say that I would torture you slowly over days leaving you begging for the sweet release of death, but I like the fact that you haven't done something stupid yet. And I can be very generous when rewarding my nice little itty-bitty captives. So why don't I sweeten the pot a little? If you do this, I will tell you where to find your little dark lord you love so much and I'll even set you free."

Dolohov was clearly surprised by that fact, but the masked freak must have noticed that it wasn't the case with Augustus, "Oh, did little Rookie already know about it? How naughty; you didn't tell your pals in prison to give them a little ickle bit of hope. What a smart cookie you are."

Antonin gave him a betrayed expression but the former Unspeakable ignored it, "Your request will be difficult even with that knowledge."

"Oh, so you need some incentive, do you? Well, how about this: if you fail for some reason, then I will find you and I will skin you…."

Both captives shivered slightly, "And when do you need these men?"

"Well, there's something poetic about Halloween."

He nodded and as they made their way out to do their task they heard the voice of their tormentor once more, "Oh, and don't get any ideas about running away. Believe me, I will find you and the results won't be pretty."

Rookwood turned to face his captor, only to find the room empty. He murmured to himself slightly, "Fucking hell!"

They were going to need all the help they could get.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.