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Chapter 6: A Chat with LuciusChapter Text

Why did I decide to speak with Lucius? Priorities. I considered the minister of finance more important than the minister of defense. There was no defense without money.

Most of the marked Death Eaters were either soldiers or narrow specialists. The most important and valuable ones made up the Inner Circle: twenty allies with the most magical or political power.

The organization was anything but homogeneous. Rare few fought for Riddle himself. Some fought for pureblood supremacy, expansion of rights for strong wizards (allow human sacrifice for the Sacred 28!) or enforced racism (you have muggle blood? Get out of our magical world!). Some were taking a stand against Dumbledore's politics (what do you mean these books are banned?! My grandfather wrote them! My only income comes from these potions, why are they suddenly illegal?!). There were some maniacs working as executioners and torturers. But the overwhelming majority consisted of hired help and opportunists looking to fish in troubled waters. The organization was well-financed, and part of that money was available to the members. And although Riddle brutally punished theft, trophies were fair game. It was easy to share other people's valuables.

How to secure their loyalty? I really wished I could send all potentially disloyal ones on suicide missions. But they would defect. And even if they died following orders, it would hardly be the last battle. Then what? Fight everyone myself? No man is an island, not even Lord Voldemort. Let's say I kill a squad of Aurors, then second, third… Sooner or later I would keel over with magic exhaustion. Or get caught with nearly spent reserve. Besides, large losses would lessen the flow of recruits. And previously neutral families would become enemies. Who wants to ally with losers?

But most of all, I was concerned with money. And Lucius was one of the richest wizards in Europe with great pull over the Ministry's finances.

"Hello, Lucius, my slippery friend."

"My Lord! The glory of your deeds precedes you, milord! Your spectacular victory over the Longbottoms and the Potters will open the eyes of anyone still doubting the power of pure blood…" Lucius talked and talked, and I was drowning in a sea of flattery.

The original Tom Riddle loved hearing about his greatness and uniqueness. But right now I wanted to talk business, not listen to laudations. Though they were certainly pleasant… What could be easier? Interrupt and ask leading questions. But that would be too unlike Riddle. Not to the extent of blowing my cover, but too many little incongruences meant uncomfortable questions.

According to Lucius's words, Lord Voldemort was stronger than all of the world's wizards put together, and Lucius would gladly to serve without receiving anything in return, but, alas, he had to keep misleading the enemy. Not even Tom bought it: he had thoroughly checked his Inner Circle with legilemency ages ago. Their death rate was low, and he spent plenty of time around them to find out everything he wanted.

Lucius kept singing me praises, and I was starting to feel uncertain: what if he truly was my most faithful servant? I shuddered. Checked myself for mental intrusion: all clear.

Ignoring Lucius's words, I decided to at least do something useful and stealthily practice legilimency. In magical vision, he sparkled like a Christmas tree- amulets, artifacts… Bypassing them was far from easy, it took me close to forty minutes to get to his occlumency defenses. Lucius was a powerful wizard, but he didn't have Dolohov's battle prowess or Snape's occlumency. And he was looking me right in the eyes, projecting devotion… After twenty more minutes, I was finally able to sift through his mind.

He has not changed one bit since the last time: only concerned with himself, his wife and son. His wife wasn't hard on the eyes, looked very much like Bella, only blonde. Their sex life wasn't bad either, only marred by the single child family curse… I was getting off track…

What did he think about me? If I win, he is a heroic servant and wants the chair of Magical England's Minister of Finance as his reward. If I lose, he is an innocent victim of the Imperius. To this end, he regularly ordered his servants to put him under the Imperius and drank a delayed memory-erasing potion before raids. How did he remember the raids, then? I see, placed the memories in his pensieve before the potion took effect and reviewed them once it was safe.

And what was his contingency plan if England ended up in ruins? Preservation charms on the manor and valuables, offshore accounts, a magical source in South Africa.

What about my diary? Locked it in a safe in his manor and stopped thinking about it. No reprimands here. I should still take a look at it. How did he plan to use a relic I entrusted him? If I die, plant it on an enemy; if I wrong him, determine its value and blackmail me?!

I got flooded with overwhelming anger. Hand automatically clutched the wand. All I wanted was to cruciate him over and over. He thought he was so clever, I'll show him clever!

But unfortunately, there were two weighty reasons against it. Unlike Tom, I understood that torture is not conductive to loyalty. Especially torture of someone rich and influential. Second, I couldn't rely on immortality. If only I was sure to come back from the dead, I would Crucio everyone for any transgression! But wait… Torturing everyone would leave me without servants. At most, with just Bella. And Lucius has not done anything against me. Punishing him for thoughts- what am I, God?

I held off the desire for torture with sheer force of will. Evidently, I inherited more from Tom than I originally thought. I should look into it. And add more functions to the Dark Marks of those who think themselves clever. Though, they would probably not line up for a slave brand…

Lucius noticed my reaction. Since he didn't know I was rummaging in his mind, he assumed this was a reaction to his previous sentence.

"Yes, my Lord, it is true! Dumbledore's political party deprives true wizards of their rights! Mudbloods are stealing our magic! Muggle lovers are wasting our inheritance! In the sacrosanct days of Salazar…"

I continued looking through his memories. Yes, he saw muggleborns as less than human. But he didn't understand the point of screaming about it. Why kill when you can exploit? Why use the Imperius when it can fail and requires maintenance? Just manipulate the situation so that muggleborns are happy to serve you. For example, become the head of a monopoly. And a lawmaker. Why announce they are the enemy when you can trick them and claim that no one is at fault - this is simply how life works? What was the point of genocide? Who was going to be his secretary, a Greengrass? He would have to constantly look over his shoulder just to keep his position! But some muggleborn with no money or connections would make an ideal servant.

Definitely rational ideas… I decided I heard enough flattery.

"Lucius, we need money."

"Here are the financial reports, my Lord! I assure you, everything is excellent. We are pursuing all avenues. From protection rackets with the riffraff to assassinating competition with werewolves; from buying magical farms to investing in new inventions…" I shrank the briefcase full of reports and put it away for later. Meanwhile, let's keep reading his thoughts.

Lucius' politics could be summed up as "you kill, I loot." Of course, he did not take watches off corpses. But transfer shares and kill the previous owners or have an auction with only one buyer- easily. Magical England's economy was slowly getting plundered, and the Death Eaters' coffers grew.

I searched for any evidence of theft or fraud. Nothing. Lucius had his cut, but how could he be so easily satisfied? I dug deeper. And there it was. Deals with muggles. Exchanging Imperios for precious metals. Shell companies. Understandable and profitable, so I decided not to punish him.

"Lucius, I think muggles must bring us profit when they die. You should get into the drug business. A small amount can be easily multiplied with a spell. Muggles will poison themselves and pay us for it."

"My Lord, why do we need muggle money? They don't use gold to back up their currencies! They can create more money than goods. They have a speculative bubble, not a proper economy."

"Then do your best to pop this bubble- the more problems muggles have, the safer the Statute. We don't need muggle money, but it can be used to buy precious metals and other things valued in the magical world. Even food to sell to mudbloods for galleons. And Lucius: I get a cut of all the drug profits. Open me a new vault. One third is yours, one is mine, one goes to the organization."

"My Lord, your wisdom is priceless!"

"And muggle politicians. Put them under subtle monitoring charms, to be aware of all their plans."

Lucius never dealt with muggles personally. But he earned money on them and thus kept in touch with their world.

"Lucius, tell me about the Death Eaters from a legal perspective. Especially international law. You have a law degree in addition to finance, do you not?"

"Under the ICW, mass murder, torture and executions to intimidate a population with the aim of seizing political power is classified as terrorism. We also fall under organized crime: "a centralized criminal enterprise that exploits fear and corruption in the pursuit of profit." The definition includes this paragraph: "They commit or threaten to commit acts of violence or intimidation; their actions are methodical, consistent, distinguished by discipline, hierarchy and secrecy; they isolate their leaders from direct illegal activities with layers of bureaucracy; they attempt to influence politics and trade through legal and illegal means."

"So we are terrorists and an organized criminal gang?"

"My Lord, we will soon win and pardon ourselves! Our enemies will become criminals!"

"What about Dumbledore and the Order?"

"He is trying to stop us from gaining power, milord."

"Wrong answer, Lucius. Is the Order of the Phoenix a legal organization? Is it registered? Pays or is financed by taxes?"

"No, my Lord."

"The Order of the Phoenix conducts paramilitary operations! Causes serious damage! Causes suffering to British magical citizens! We must file an international suit to declare the Order a criminal organization. Their leader is Chief Warlock: undeniable abuse of office! His title must be revoked! And then there is his so-called "Act of Seizure of Dangerous Dark Artifacts." I'm sure the Bullstrode's knife confiscated earlier this year has not been used for human sacrifice in generations! It was a harmless antique! And it was confiscated without reimbursement! This is a violation of private property! Ministry-sponsored robbery! "

"My Lord, it truly was a Dark artifact. It was confiscated after a court decision. And they received reimbursement. And-"

"The reimbursement was clearly insufficient! Lucius, who even wrote those laws? Dumbledore and his gang? What if tomorrow Wizengamot, under pressure from Dumbledore, passes a law that refusing a lemon drop is punishable by life in Azkaban? Or that all Malfoy properties are to be transferred to the Weasleys, with a reimbursement of one knut? Maybe he also fancies your wife and passes a law to make everything legal?"

"My Lord, I am afraid I cannot keep up with your mind."

"It is simple, Lucius. The Ministry violates our rights. Decides how we can and cannot use our magic. And the system is beyond idiotic: killing in self defense with an Incendio is up to three years; killing in self defense with a painless Avada is life in Azkaban! Moreover, the Ministry is stealing our property: our books, artifacts, even dried house elf heads! We are merely defending ourselves! Magical England is so far gone that we occasionally need to use the Unforgivables in our battle against usurpers and Dumbledore's puppets!"

"My Lord, the Ministry is a legitimate authority."

"Illegitimate! The right to private property is inalienable! No one has the right to take away people's artifacts! Besides, have you ever heard about a search of Crouch's house? Or the Weasleys'? Selective enforcement of laws is lawless!"

"My Lord, Crouch is a law-abiding citizen. And the Weasleys are too poor and stupid to be hiding anything."

"Lucius, organize searches of their houses. With international witnesses."

"Crouch has good wards, my Lord. We can't plant anything there. The Weasleys… they literally have nothing. They are also in the Order, protected by Dumbledore."

"We will plant something with Crouch, I will let you know how. And the Weasleys… We'll think of something. At the very least, the searches will fray the lemon fiend's nerves. And try to set it up for them to believe that the search party with international witnesses are disguised Death Eaters. If it causes a fight with fatalities, Dumbledore won't be able to wash his hands."

"My Lord, organizing searches of our enemies is possible, but I cannot include Death Eaters in the party."

"And you shouldn't. Let them simply do their jobs. Focus on improving the image of our organization and smearing the Ministry and Dumbledore. Albus cannot be a saint. Try to find something compromising. Dig into his past. Recruit journalists. If you are unable to find anything, we will get creative and falsify evidence. For example, he raped goats, tortured his sister, worked with Grindelwald; never dueled him and won his wand in cards or a drinking contest. Come up with something! But do not under any circumstances publish anything without getting my approval first."

"My Lord, there are many witnesses of Dumbledore's and Grindelwald's duel. The analysis of ambient magic over the battlefield showed-"

"All witnesses were paid. Or intimidated. Magical disturbances were falsified."

"My Lord, are you certain anyone would believe this?"

"Not this. But from now on you are my Minister of Propaganda. Or rather, Minister of Truth. Or Information. Come up with a nice-sounding title. Your job is to invent something people will believe. And create proof."

"It is… a great honor… my Lord. Your loyal follower will prove his usefulness to the noble cause…" Lucius ran on with renewed vigor.

I was starting to get a headache. Once again checked myself for foreign mental influence, charms, potions… Maybe covertly reading his mind while simultaneously examining myself was too strenuous? Or Lucius befuddled me? He will pay for that!

"Lucius, I have more orders for you. Do whatever it takes to get on the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Your goals are to increase funding, add new subjects, add heating to the entire castle, number the classrooms, add sexual education, increase safety regulations for quidditch, conduct complete medical exams of all students, create extracurriculars… Make everyone love do-gooder purebloods. And most importantly, drown the teachers and Dumbledore in paperwork. They need approved lesson plans. Proof of their qualifications. Detailed evaluation standards of student progress. Spending reports. Potion ingredients inventory. Accounting of everything grown in the greenhouses and brewed in potion classes. The more you waste their time, the less they will have for the Order. And make sure to ban the use of dangerous artifacts such as Time-Turners!" Let Lucius be Dumbledore's headache instead of mine.

Lucius' thoughts were in turmoil. He was afraid of the Lord's power and madness, at the same time worrying how little he will see his wife with this new schedule. Let's finish him!

"Lucius, do you remember me giving you a black book for safekeeping?"

Lucius started to sweat, thinking what this may mean. Loss of the Dark Lord's favor? The Lord found out about his disrespectful thoughts? Impossible, Lucius put on several mind-protecting amulets before every meeting. Different ones every time. No one can get through without alerting him. (Or maybe it was only a matter of time. You talk too much.) He would wear all of them at once if only they didn't conflict with one another.

I needed to give him an explanation. Something that would kill any desire to babble and even think about it. And reinforce my image of the insane Dark Lord.

"I decided you are too valuable to be keeping it."

Lucius' confusion reached a whole new level. A black book… What could be so dangerous even inside an enchanted safe, inside containment circles in a warded room?

"If I may ask, what was I keeping?"

He never really examined it, not willing to risk the Lord's wrath. Saw that it was a dark artifact with a strong aura of death. What is it? Who cares? Excessive initiative would only lead to punishment.

"Lucius, it is the Necronomicon. I need it back. Soon."

A horcrux could live a pseudo-life by controlling other people, but the Necronomicon sounded infinitely more dangerous. It was one of the wildest and most absurd legends of the magical world. A book that recorded every dark spell and ritual ever created. According to the story, it was made of human skin and contained the souls of wizards who tried to use its knowledge. There was also some nonsense about it moving around on its own volition and eating things.

Lucius' panic was warming my heart. Lord Voldemort never joked. So Lucius believed there was a bomb in his manor… Where his wife and son were at this very moment.

He tried to apparate, but I had put up privacy and anti-apparition wards before inviting him in. He tried to take down the wards (how rude!), but, naturally, failed. He ran towards the exit, but the door was locked…

"Lucius, stop!"

"I am hurrying to follow your order, my Lord! I will immediately return your priceless artifact! I am not worthy of keeping it! My Lord, your will shall be done!" Lucius continued to yank the door.

He was frantically running through his options. Reducto at the door? Not guaranteed to work, the Lestranges' manor was charmed to the max. Attack the Dark Lord? He was no match. Ask the Lord to let him go home? Breaking ranks, Crucio, wasting precious time. Call a house elf? It cannot open the safe.

"I said stop. I am not finished," but I was interrupted.

"Dobby!" screamed Lucius.

"What does Master-" the house elf also got no chance to finish.

"Get Narcissa and Draco out of the manor! Tell them to go to France! For a week! And to get examined by the best French healers! Then go back and guard the safe! Yes, that one! Order the rest of the house elves to leave! And activate all the wards you can! Do it now!"

Dobby popped away.

I probably went a bit too far with the Necronomicon… The only silver lining was that his brazen disobedience justified punishment.

"Crucio," I said. Lucius fell before the still locked door and started writhing.

One of the reasons for Voldemort's fondness of the Cruciatus was his servants' defenses. Torturing them with anything else was difficult. He could, of course, break through or order to lower them, but it would take time and effort. And what if there was a sudden auror raid? Or a mandrake under the table? Goodbye, servants. And the Dark Lord ordering to remove their shields? Is he so weak that he can't torture a resisting subject?

The Cruciatus got through any shield. Its strength depended on both power and desire to cause pain. What could I say… My Crucio was much weaker than the original's… And I felt no quasi-sexual pleasure promised by Riddle's memories. Who were our main Cruciatus experts? Tom and the Lestranges? Maybe it was displaced sexual frustration? Riddle haven't had sex in years, Edward was a widower, Rabastan a bachelor. Bella's and Rodolphus' marriage was far from happy, no children… I decided to test this ridiculous hypothesis later.

The sight of Malfoy writhing on the floor pleasantly stroked my ego. I felt vindicated for my wasted time, despite the remaining headache. I canceled the spell.

"Get up. Get back in your chair. I have not finished talking."

My use of torture was perfectly legitimate. And Malfoy was happy: his family evacuated, the manor can be rebuilt if necessary.

"You will personally bring me the Necronomicon. Not a word to anyone. Hand it to me in the Lestranges' manor."

"My Lord, if this book will be here… Maybe we should have Death Eater meetings elsewhere?" he asked with a glimmer of hope.

"No. I control the book. It is a part of me. And it is a secret."

At that, Lucius truly began to shake. Keeping the Necronomicon was one thing. The legend said such people sometimes survived, but everyone who ever tried using it perished. Lucius's thoughts turned to betrayal and destroying of the book. Many have tried, all lost their souls… And using it led to the same… Defect to Dumbledore? The Necronomicon would land a fate far worse than life in Azkaban, and his family would spend the rest of their days in high security magical quarantine. Quietly giving it back to the Dark Lord was ideal. The Lord will either die or use his power to give Lucius the seat of the Minister of Finance.

I should probably research myths and legends for a better idea of what can and cannot be mentioned.

"Lucius, we will soon have new allies. Prepare gifts. And a speech."

"If I may ask, my Lord, who are they? I need to know what gifts will be appropriate and what to promise them."

"Acromantulas, Lucius."

"Acromantulas?! They are extremely dangerous and untrainable! You will have difficulties making a deal with them, my Lord."

"And that is exactly why you will be coming with me. I plan to move them from the Forbidden Forest. You will find a new space for them to live away from humans. And arrange a portal to transport them."

"You plan to act so close to Hogwarts? What about Dumbledore, milord?"

"We will choose the best opportune moment. Inform me once you know the times he will be away from the school."

"Yes, my Lord. May I go?"

"Yes."

"My Lord! May I beseech you, milord, to come to my manor with me? So I may return your "item" promptly?"

Lucius hoped that if anything went wrong, he could hide behind me. I originally planned to stay here and speak to others… But what if Lucius called on someone else? And they scanned the book and saw it was not the Necronomicon? I had to come.

"I will go with you. Perhaps I overestimated your power, and it is too dangerous for you."

I took down the wards, and we apparated to Malfoy's manor. It was even more splendid than the Lestranges'. Gorgeous gardens. I wonder, how much money does Lucius actually have?

Magical vision showed some of the wards were hastily raised. Malfoy cut his hand and placed it against the door. The glow receded, and we entered.

"Dobby!" called Malfoy.

"Dobby answers Master's call, Master."

"Did Narcissa and Draco leave the manor?"

"Yes, Master. But Mistress was very unhappy."

"Bring me all the defensive amulets you can find. And the dragon skin suit."

With a flick of his wand, Lucius changed into his Death Eater robe. When he put on the mask, I almost got thrown out of his mind: the mask had great anti-legilimency charms. Lucius put on many additional amulets (luckily none for mind protection) and, finally, his dragon skin suit.

"Follow me, my Lord."

Lucius lowered the wards protecting his study. Pulled a head of a statuette to open a secret door. As we were walking down, he kept opening rune-covered doors with his wand. The third door was lying on the floor and looked burnt. From the inside. Lucius' anxiety grew.

"Someone tried to steal my priceless Necronomicon from you, Lucius? Why was I not informed?"

"I don't understand why the alarm didn't go off… Any attempt of breach or unauthorized entry should have sent me a signal and activated additional defenses," -he pointed at statues in the alcoves. They stood motionless…

"There are no provisions against a breach from the inside, my Lord," Lucius hid behind me.

I still haven't recovered, but there wasn't going to be a battle. I remembered how much the soul transfer roughed me up. Whatever effects it had on the horcruxes, they were not going to be mild, either. I wonder how it changed my diary.

"Follow me, Lucius."

No more doors needed opening. Each was on the floor in progressively worse condition. Scorched walls, broken golems. At last, we reached a square underground room, about ten by ten yards. In its center once stood a safe, which had been reduced to a mass of melted metal. Runes on the floor were partially erased and inactive. If there were any other objects in this room, they left no traces… I should frame this to my advantage.

"It appears I got here in time, Lucius. You needed to take better care of my property."

"My Lord, your humble servant was not worthy… My Lord, it looks like a ritual was performed here."

"Someone was here? When?"

"I last came here six months ago, my Lord. No one else can enter. And the systems at the entrance showed no one has been here since then."

I cast diagnostic charms. Trying to in understand what happened would take too long, but I could at least determine the time of events… The symbols in the air were unequivocal: massive discharge of energy this Samhain.

So, the soul swap somehow affected the diary. Why was there no explosion at Lily's house? Soul entering a living body instead of an object? The wand I was holding influenced something? A volatile reaction between the energy and defenses of this room? Or artifacts around the safe? Or the safe's material?

"Lucius, it seems that on Samhain, the book got bored and decided to leave… And your defenses were not able to contain it."

"My Lord, the explosion here was enormous. I think the book is destroyed…"

We'll see. I flattened the glob of metal into a pancake. Lucius had a nice safe: the runes were destroyed, yet the material itself was still difficult to transform. And there, on a piece of metal, laid a nondescript black book.

I focused on the diary. Initially, Tom enchanted it to process information: it could search through his notes, combine symbols, help with arithmancy. Then he made it a horcrux. A horcrux could defend itself as is, but Tom added many more defensive and camouflage charms on top. Camouflage charms definitely came off. And everything else… got strangely intertwined and sparkled in magical vision with dark magical energy, traces of human sacrifice and an uncanny energy field that closely resembled a living being's. The information structure looked solid… But it was clearly no longer a horcrux. Nothing dangerous, either…

Lucius was standing behind my back, trying to blend in with he wall. He saw the same thing I did but understood even less. However, the strange, profound malice was impossible to miss even among a hodgepodge of other magic it radiated.

"My Lord, it… it is not damaged after this?"

An interesting question. Before, I could think of text or images, and the diary projected them on its pages. I ordered it to open. It did. Lucius jumped back. Then looked at the empty pages over my shoulder.

I continued the test. On one page appeared the Dark Mark. On the other - a sentence I ordered. "The Necronomicon is ready to serve You, Master." It worked. I summoned the book, and it flew right into my hands.

Now, this was bizarre. Why did my shields not stop it? My wand had been soaked in my blood, so it made sense for the shields to ignore it. And the book? It stored a part of Riddle's soul. I had something of his within me, so the diary also counted as a part of me? I had to figure this out. But obviously not now and without Lucius.

Lucius watched me, waiting for the book to devour my soul- he saw it go straight through my shields. But it behaved like a normal book, not a dark artifact.

"Lucius, don't just stand there. I already told you: the book is a part of me. Bring me your strongest isolating container. I will be taking it with me."

"Dobby! Isolating container! The strongest one! Here, now!"

Dobby brought something resembling a roll of wallpaper. In magical vision it looked like absolute void. The house elf wrapped the diary in several layers. I could no longer feel it and put it in my pocket.

"Lucius, I probably don't need to remind you to keep all of this secret. You never had this artifact. Or seen it."

"Yes, my Lord! I will destroy all the evidence! The entire safe! I know people who will confidentially clean up the ambient magic! And then I'll destroy my memories. No one will know!"

"Who else knows you kept it here?"

"No one! Only I and the house elf watching the safe…" Lucius halted and looked at Dobby.

"Incendio" he said, pointing his wand at the elf.

Heh, so that's what they mean by job burnout. Lucius poured so much power into the spell that it left no ashes.

I should be more careful when referencing ancient legends. This time I got lucky, but it would not do to count on fortune.

"In this case, I will leave you. Destroy the evidence. And don't forget about your other orders. We will have a full meeting soon."

I went back to the Lestranges', sat in the same chair and called on Bella.

"My Lord, Aurors are traipsing around everywhere, I had no chance to get your gift from our vault yet."

"Bella, Gringotts is impossible to rob, is it not?"

"Yes, your item is in good hands, Master!"

"Is this backed by a law? Compensation for lost or damaged property stipulated in the agreement?"

"There has never been a precedent, my Lord. But the bank is legally responsible for everything stored on its territory."

"How often do those shrimps check inside the vaults?"

"I don't know, my Lord."

"Did you have anything valuable in that vault, aside from my gift?"

"Money, jewelry, antique weapons. Rodolphus' wedding gifts."

"Was all your money in that vault?"

"No, my Lord. Some of the money is in this manor, some in foreign vaults and accounts."

"Get your lawyers, Bella. I have information that the contents of your safe could have been damaged. Dumbledore wanted to rob us of all our money. If he couldn't take it out of the vault, he likely tried to destroy it!"

"But, my Lord, attacking Gringotts means a conflict with the goblins. It is the last thing Dumbledore needs…"

"When you return with the cup, give me your memories of what happened in the vault."

"Yes, Master."

"And for now, recommend me some books. On magical lore, legends, ancient artifacts, family treasure. Especially the Founders' artifacts."

"My Lord, I will prepare everything for you… In our library, books on this topic are in the "Myths, Legends, Fairy Tales" section. You always skipped it before."

"Bella, I believe you will do everything perfectly. By the way, have you found my snake yet? Or any unusual magical disturbances?"

"Nothing yet. But we continue searching. Perhaps you could try calling on her through your familiar bond?"

"I can't feel the bond, Bella. I am afraid something might have happened… If so, find her body."

Actually, a familiar bond connected souls. Maybe my soul transfer destroyed the bond rather than the familiar. Nagini may still be alive. But why couldn't the Lestranges find her after so long? Did she escape? The wards shouldn't let her through…

"Search for my snake together with the others. The cup business is a secret, for you and me only. Understood?"

"My Lord, I am your most faithful servant…"

"Go attend to your tasks. I need to think."

Bella walked out. The view from behind was… impressive… Tom's memories showed he stopped reacting to women after the third horcrux. How fortunate they didn't affect me!

But first I had to understand what happened to the horcruxes. Gather and examine them. Are they connected to me? Pose any danger?

Unfortunately, I couldn't do it without help. Need tread carefully and not to share too much… Who could help me? Who knew obscure spells, kept up with cutting-edge magical developments, had access to rare substances, testing equipment, old artifacts, new inventions? The answer was obvious: the Unspeakables. Mad scientists pushing the boundaries of magic. Or defending people from failed experiments and unusual objects: the Veil of Death alone was enough trouble! I only had one contact in the Department of Mysteries: Rookwood. Time to summon him for an audience.