Continuing Education

I was dreaming. This time, I was examining the original Tom Riddle's personality. Here I am at the orphanage. Getting bullied by older children. Bullying the younger ones. Stealing food. Trembling during the bombings… Riddle's childhood was far from happy. Even at Hogwarts, at least in the beginning, he was scorned for his dubious background and old clothes.

Riddle's childhood may not have been ideal, but he was not the only orphan in the world. He had a real chance at success after Hogwarts: many expected him to achieve a high post the Ministry, perhaps even become the Minister of Magic. How did he end up an infamous Dark Lord?

Tom had always been sly and cruel, but with the creation of horcruxes he grew irrational. Why capture random wizards and torture them into insanity? What was the goal? I could understand practicing the Cruciatus and checking the time it took to induce insanity. But he did it multiple times without any goal at all. Revenge for suffering at the orphanage? Understandable, but what was the point in punishing random people? Find and torture the ones who wronged you! Need information from muggles? Legilimency or the Imperius.

Some of Tom's actions could be explained with sadism, pride or anger, but other defied reason. And as years went by, the latter became more and more frequent. However I tried to reason, everything pointed to one conclusion: horcruxes.

It was incredibly stupid to experiment on your own soul. Tom could have convinced another wizard to create several horcruxes and observed the results. Instead, he asked Slughorn about the effects of multiple horcruxes. Slughorn, who was not a Dark magic specialist, had no personal experience in the matter… And got a response that murder was bad and multiple murders was extra bad. And that it was banned magic. This could be interpreted in a myriad of ways. What Tom got out of it was senile pencil-pushers banned powerful magic to easier control the population and banned killing to protect cowards and taxpayers. But Tom was not like those sheep and would be the first to dare!

But the world was already full of violence, crime, war… If you were going to kill anyway, why not pursue immortality while you are at it? No one had the power or knowledge? Very unlikely… A single murder - and you have a horcrux. Soon, an immortal army or an Auror force. Why has no one done it? Because you cut off a piece of your own soul, not someone else's! Put each piece at risk of permanent destruction with destruction of its vessel!

Lord Voldemort loved to brag that he was more than human. Blinded by pride, he never noticed becoming less: he made most of his soul mortal. Slughorn should have said that horcruxes are total rubbish, that even maniacs don't bother with them because everyone who has ever made a horcrux in a thousand years since its invention died with an incomplete soul. And several horcruxes… there hasn't yet been an idiot to experiment on himself. But go ahead Tom, you try it, and we will observe what happens. And if one divides the soul in half, ten will leave you with a whopping 1/1024 of your original soul. Only a drunk troll could come up something as asinine as cutting off pieces of yourself to become stronger… Maybe you should try cutting off your finger and leaving it under your bed to be reborn from it if you get hit with the killing curse? And to increase your chances of rebirth, cut off more fingers?

Tom never noticed changes in his rationality. He disregarded the loss of interest in sex, and the inability to have children has never been an issue. The only thing he noticed was his inability to connect to a magical source. But instead of panicking or even conducting a brief self-diagnostic, he merely stopped pursuing Bellatrix - he originally wanted to connect to the Black source through marriage. Despite the Blacks' obsession with blood purity, they would have made an exception for a powerful half-blood Slytherin heir.

I could clearly see it from the outside, unbiased perspective: every new horcrux made Tom more aggressive and less inclined to verbal sparring. More torture, less politics. Power and money to the purebloods? The same ones who already comprised the Wizengamot and owned the majority of land and businesses? Death to the mudbloods? How many have you seen that weren't in the lowest servant positions? Muggle-lovers? Idiots like the Weasleys had already punished themselves with poverty.

Your party lost an election? Try again, with better preparation. Takes too long? The current conflict has been brewing for eleven years! By now, many people on both sides have stopped caring about their original goals. Too much blood had been spilled, making a truce impossible.

It wasn't that hard to understand something was wrong! Even without self-psychoanalysis, every subsequent horcrux ritual took more and more effort. Back in Hogwarts was understandable, but later Tom had plenty of time to find a wizard experienced with horcruxes and interrogate him. I should do that, actually.

Tom saw horcruxes as life-saving anchors. I was far more critical. If only there was a way to immortality by sacrificing someone else's soul… Besides, I could not afford to sacrifice my mind. How would I rule a country if I could not even control myself? So this was not my way.

And that was fine. The Lestranges were already drawing beautiful runes in the ritual chamber, Rookwood would soon bring me new inventions, and I will find my own. And my previous life? No point in reminiscing. The opportunities here were immeasurably more lucrative, and I would use them for all they are worth.

The history lesson was over, time to get up.

"Master, Gaby prepared you housekeeping books and will tell you about elf magic."

What can I say? I needed a break from difficult tasks.

"I am listening, Gaby."

If someone visited my house, they would witness a surreal picture: the Dark Lord diligently reading books for housewives and getting coached by a house elf.

Lord Voldemort never spared household charms a glance. He should have. Take, for example, Boilio - a spell that boils water, used for cooking and heating baths. But what would it do to a human body which consists mostly of water? I'd wager on death rivaling the Blood Magic boiling curse, only with less energy cost. Or the potato-peeling charm. Used on a human, would it peel off the skin? Would the packaging charm suffocate the subject with clothes? There were so many interesting charms!

Obviously, household spells were less lethal than battle spells, easier to shield from and heal. But they were more than enough for muggles. Most importantly, they barely used any energy, even non-verbally and wandlessly. And I was sure if I poured enough energy into the toilet-unclogging spell, it would blow the the victim up from the inside like a swallowed Reducto!

Only few powerful wizards could afford to walk around with shields against every imaginable threat. An average Auror responded to calls covered in shields against Dark magic and other things expected in the time of war, to survive until the arrival of backup in case of a Death Eater attack. My surprises would take him out.

They would be useless in a serious battle but ideal for "walkabouts" and simple operations. If the DMLE detected Avadas, Fiendfyre, Antipatronus and Liquified Flesh, how would they respond? It's You-Know-Who! Send all the Aurors! And Moody! And call Dumbledore!

But a trash-incinerating spell? At best, they would send some intern to scold the kids playing with fire. Or simply send a warning letter to the nearest muggleborn.

An ability to act incognito was very handy. I could blame this new style on… Lily. More precisely, on Elena Ivanova. Let them search all they want for a witch who lived under the Fidelius… The Dark Lord's new servant with a unique brand of sadism. Lily would be in for a surprise when she becomes a dangerous criminal immediately greeted with Avadas. I could even start convincing her I am not so bad in comparison. Her fear was good, but lacking a motive to act against me would be better.

Although I had no plans to send her into battle, she needed to know how to defend herself. And to get seen in a couple of operations. Teaching her to fight properly would take years of effort, and she didn't have the character to throw killing curses left and right. But the new "psycho housewife" style would give her a chance. If I'm not ready for battle and there is a dish-scrubbing spell flying at me, what do I do? In such cases, the victor was decided by raw power.

On the other hand, house elf magic was a bust… I had such high hopes for apparating through wards… For example, Hogwarts. But their magic was inaccessible to humans - astral structures too alien. All I got was wards against house elf apparition. I will order Rookwood to find or develop an effective way to kill the long-eared menaces. A couple hundred of them posed a danger even to me.

What do you do once you learned many new spells? Test them! I apparated to the Lestranges.

"Rabastan, I need prisoners."

"You already killed all we had, my Lord. But I can find more. I will immediately check with the other Death Eaters and bring their prisoners here!"

"I will wait for you in the potion warehouse. And Rabastan, on our next meeting I will introduce a woman who will look like the muggle whose hair you brought me. Absolutely no one -not even your family- can know. It is her real appearance, and you have never seen her before, do you understand?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Go. I will be at the potion warehouse. Oh, and you will probably not find any prisoners at Rosier's."

I began looking through potions. I'll take the liquid luck… I would need it if I ran into Albus! And this. And this…

Rabastan soon interrupted.

"Everything is ready, my Lord."

"Rabastan, on our next meeting, don't forget to raise the question of prisoners. England is a developed country, and continuously increasing numbers of missing people are bound to be noticed. We could organize flash raids into poor parts of Africa. And put local muggle officials under the Imperius to write off the disappearances as war casualties."

I entered a dungeon room full of immobilized people. Riddle would have gloated. I merely wanted to test my new charms so they wouldn't unexpectedly fail in a real battle. I was not like him.

Let's begin the practice. Conjured water followed by a lightning rod testing spell. The subject died. A wood-chopping spell. Multiple avulsion wounds, not immediately fatal. What if I used a dish-scrubbing spell on the intestines?

One hour later:

"Rabastan, I need more prisoners!"

Charles Nott

Charles was lost in thought, absently watching flames dance in his fireplace. He joined the Death Eaters decades ago, among the very first, but the organization fell short of his expectations. Unfortunately, the only way out was in a casket, and losing the war meant Azkaban. Together forever indeed…

But lately everything felt inexplicably… off. The Dark Lord hadn't called a meeting to boast of his victories over the Potters and the Longbottoms… He burned everything down rather than use the Killing Curse and raise liches… Spared Neville… Nott was out of favor, yet the Lord spoke to him in person without once mentioning torturing muggles and had not rewarded him with the usual preventive Crucio… Of course, he has long given up on trying to find logic in the Dark Lord's actions, but the nagging sense of wrongness would not let up…

The fireplace suddenly changed colors, revealing Rabastan Lestrange's head.

"Nott! I need prisoners! We are all out!"

"I don't have any… Ask Mulciber."

"He is all out too! I took his an hour ago, and they are already dead!"

"Rosier?"

"The Dark Lord was there yesterday. All gone. He even killed one of the guards. Any idea who may have some? Avery? Crabbe?"

"Rosier had over a hundred…"

"Four hundred. And by the way, we wanted to tell you during the meeting, but the Lord is torturing and killing prisoners in our dungeons, so who knows when that will happen. Talk to Malfoy. Put your heads together to come up with a way to get custody of Neville and access his inheritance. And the best way to kill his grandmother. Oh, and can you spare some unregistered wands? None of ours match the liches…"

"What liches? We haven't had any raids or strong wizarding bodies in a long time!"

"James Potter and the Longbottoms. The Lord Avada'ed them and dragged them to us."

"My house elf will bring you the wands. And prisoners… Jugson should have a couple."

Lestrange disappeared. And Charles was thinking again. Murder the parents, turn them into liches, kidnap their child to acquire the family valuables? And do it all in one Samhain night, when the veil between the the dead and living was at its thinnest? The Dark Lord always loved symbolism… And postponing the meeting because he was busy torturing and killing muggles? No, the Dark Lord hasn't changed one bit.

Wonderful, a new batch. Rust-removing spell used on a human removed the scalp… Crack-plugging spell for doors and windows sealed the airways and all the other orifices…

Maybe I should stun the subjects instead of silencing the screaming? But I ran out of prisoners… Perhaps next time.

Bella still has not returned with my cup. I also would rather not conduct a full meeting while there was still a possibility of a magical snake emitting who knows what slithering around the manor. So I went to Lily.

"Put on your uniform, Elena," I said entering her mind, "You need fresh air. And a new wand."

She stiffened with anxiety as I covered her with shields and masking charms. Not as strong as mine, but she will live. Though there must be a way to tie them to her own energy and allow her to stray away from me without losing all defenses…

"My Lord, where are we going?" she asked, putting on the mask.

"We are going to give you your first taste of battle. And go for a nice walk."

This time she knew better than ask questions about killing. But she was still not ready for it.

We apparated to Knockturn Alley and looked for the darkest, nastiest corner. Rock bottom of the magical world. A wizard was selling something to a bargaining buyer.

"Elena, these are your targets."

"You want me to kill them?"

"No. Stun them. Pour your best into the spell to take them both out at once and avoid drawing attention. Then take their wands."

Her thoughts showed she never expected such mercy from the Dark Lord.

"Stupefy!"

Lily's spell hit both. Their shields lit up but cracked like eggshells under a hammer. The targets dropped unconscious.

Lily had plenty of practice with this spell at Hogwarts. Now it flew faster, glowed brighter. Never before could she break through a simple Protego with a single hit…

"Feel the difference, Elena?"

She noticed all magic becoming easier after the ritual but convinced herself it was a side effect of stress. Right, that would be like a scared muggle outrunning a speeding car. She won't be able to lie to herself for long.

"This spell came out much stronger than usual."

"Think on it. Practice in your basement. Do you remember your magic in the past? Compare the results. But right now, take their wands. We are leaving."

I did not bother with a cover up. This was Knockturn. A brawl was a common sight, there had been no illegal magic- maybe someone stunned an aggressive stray dog. But when the murders will finally be discovered, the Aurors will find Lily's magical signature on the bodies and note the stolen wands. What murders? They were alive when we disapparated, but I had set up for my trusty house elf to cut the stunned targets' throats with a regular knife and hide the bodies. Lily will learn the wizards were killed and their deaths pinned on her. But we left them alive, so how was this my fault? All crimes get pinned on the Death Eaters anyway!

After a series of apparitions we arrived to Privet Drive.

"Recognize your sister's house?"

Now I felt her unadulterated fear.

"You have nothing to fear. They will not be harmed. I saw your concern for your sister in your thoughts - you left on bad terms, James and Sirius insulted her at your wedding… Lily Potter is officially dead, but you may visit them once a month, unseen. I am too busy to kill every muggle I come across, and as long as you are loyal to me these muggles are safe."

Essentially, they were additional hostages. If Lily did anything wrong, I would kill her brother in law. Second strike - baby nephew. Third - sister. Or simply cruciate them. Lily understood the implied threat.

We came back to her house.

"Sit down, Elena. It is time for another legilimency session… Legilimens!" I made a show as if I was not already in her mind.

Last time I searched for ways she could be useful. Today, my concern was Severus Snape. Tom was certain of his loyalty after multiple legilimency sessions. But I was not him and decided to look at Snape through Lily's eyes. He must have a reason to want her alive. Did they go to Hogwarts together?

Here Severus meets her when they are both young kids. Starting Hogwarts. Meeting Potter. Sorting into rival Houses. Interhouse friendship. Severus' awkward advances. Here she tries to help Severus when he is hanging in the air upside down. He calls her a mudblood. Begging for forgiveness, broken friendship…

Severus took it way too seriously. He got undressed, not raped. He could have easily framed it to come out on top: "the four of you are just jealous that my cock is bigger than all of yours put together," or "you are all fags trying to get with me, I'm not interested, go back to fucking each other." Both muggle and magical Scotland lagged behind the rest of the Western world when it came to accepting homosexuality, so all four would all get in trouble with their parents. Then he could organize an interhouse gang to bully the "Gryffindor butt buddies." Instead, he insulted Lily despite her having no part in it. Was it an instinct, to attack the weak?

But I was looking for indications of Snape's loyalty. In his memories, Snape strived for power and influence under the auspices of a strong Master. Snape was a genius with potions and experienced with the Dark Arts, overall good enough to be the only half-blood in the Inner Circle. Killed many, served faithfully, brought Tom the prophecy, earning himself a place among the most trusted. Why did he ask for a specific mudblood? Wanted to fuck the one who denied him in school and get revenge on her husband who bullied him? Tom thought so. It was logical.

But Lily's memories showed a different Snape. Lost, cornered, trying his best to improve himself, getting involved with a bad crowd. Somehow both were equally true.

Obviously, Lily could be mistaken. Snape could have always been a sick bastard or become one and obsess over this particular redhead. Obsess so much that he was not afraid of Voldemort's Cruciatus? I should tell him I killed the girl and watch his reaction.

But what if… He was able to deceive Riddle? No, it was impossible… Snape's occlumency was impressive, but Tom had been in his mind and would have killed him for a slightest hint of betrayal.

I left Lily's head.

"You may use your old wand for now, but only bring the ones you just acquired to all meetings and missions. I am going to temporarily borrow one of them."

I left her and went back to the Lestranges. I had a herbology lesson to attend…

A South American herbologist hired for a a barellfull of money was reading a lecture to Rabastan. I stood invisible beside them, my mind linked with Rabastan's.

"All of this is fascinating, dear Mr. Connors," Rabastan voiced my words, "but I am not interested in tending magical plants. I would like to buy seeds that can be used in battle to absorb water, heat or acid. I also would like to learn what plants can sense a wizard and the charms against them, preferably universal."

"Kids these days! Always in a hurry, always champing at the bit… Some plants sense magic, some sense life force, some sense heartbeat… As for provisionally combat plants, seeds of an Amazon Highlander can absorb massive amounts of water, and Flemish Lichen absorbs acid…"

"We will be buying large amounts of these two types seeds, then. And the herbicide spells?"

"The pattern of charms I will show you is the so-called…"

Rabastan copied, and so did I. This farce was tiring, but The Dark Lord had to remain omnipotent, while the youngest Lestrange could use the tutoring.

Finished with classes, I gathered the male Lestranges in the small parlor.

"Prepare a list of potions for Snape to deliver in two days. And another list of simpler potions. Most importantly, I will be attacking Ollivander's shop. Here is the plan…"

Ollivander's Capture

That evening, a woman dressed in the latest magical fashion walked into Diagon Alley from muggle London through the Leaky Cauldron. She would soon be known as Elena Ivanova, Lord Voldemort's left hand. She approached Ollivander's Wands and walked inside.

My idea to use polyjuice was self-evident. It did not affect Lord Voldemort's inhuman body and energy field, but that changed with my arrival. The Lestranges? So the Lord performed yet another experiment and can now use polyjuice. So what? Maybe it was research, maybe he decided to get into politics or wanted sex?

Polyjuice did come with its own problems: on my way here, I received many lascivious looks, catcalls, offers to escort me, bewilderment at Russian language. But the more evidence, the better. Nothing overshadowed my annoyance with the body itself. It was too short, thin and frail. By what criteria did Lily choose it? Attracting a date?

"Would you like to buy a wand?" Ollivander smiled at me.

He had a Gift, intuitively sensing wands and determining their match without the need for runic circles and calculations. But this meant he had to work without personal shields or wards over the shop.

I cast wandless and wordless acceleration charm on myself and bit through the capsule with acceleration potion. Before Ollivander could blink, he was stunned with a flash from my cuff link and and tied up by suddenly appeared house elves. Another artifact activated carefully layered charms on my purse - and everything around us came into motion, spiraling into the bottomless bag as if it were a black hole. Absolutely everything: wands, instruments, ingredients, shelves, the workbench… The tied master followed them into a separate compartment. Everything took about two seconds.

My use of commonly available artifacts was very uncharacteristic of the Lord and left no traces at the place so uncluttered by magic.

The elves popped away, but the shop was already covered with wards preventing my escape… Or so they thought… But breaking the wards quickly would equate to leaving an autograph "Lord Voldemort was here." I plastered on a determined expression, gripped my wand uncomfortably hard and walked out of the shop.

Moody was chasing giants somewhere in Wales. Dumbledore was testifying in court. They would undoubtedly drop everything and rush here for Voldemort. But for some girl? They will not even be notified.

I was greeted by a standard Auror cinque.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Immobulus!"

"Stupefy!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Incarcerous!"

Five spells mixed with many weak wordless, wandless disarmers. Effortless to reflect with a single shield, but then they would call for backup.

"Protego!" I said in unwonted, high-pitched voice.

It was surprisingly difficult to cast a cruddy shield with the correct wand movement. Half of their spells breached my shield and got absorbed by an amulet.

"Slugulus Eructo!" I enunciated.

The Auror deflected it with a simple Protego, though it shook him quite a bit. Why play games when they could be dead with one Fiendfyre? I was Elena Ivanova with a freshly stolen wand, not the Dark Lord. True, we were in a war. But when the target was not a Death Eater and used non-lethal spells, law enforcement made their best attempt to arrest first… If they weren't Crouch's underlings. All the more, they saw exactly what I planned: a girl with large potential but not a fighter, relying only on her ocean of energy.

I answered their stunners and binders with more peanuts like stinging hexes, leg lockers, sticking shoes to the ground, tickling and so on. Once in a while one of their shields would break, and the others covered their comrade until he could re-cast it.

My enemies relaxed - Death Eaters did not behave this way. Clearly a mundane robbery, perpetrator to be apprehended alive. They even told me to surrender between the Expelliarmuses. I declined. At last, four of the Order's gofers deigned to show up. They tried to stay inconspicuous until the aurors would need backup.

I tried to break through the barrier. Naturally, it held. Or so it looked to them. How could they know I dumped so much energy into a simple spell that the barrier would collapse if I poked it with my finger? I made a show of pouring all my remaining strength into breaking it and clumsily apparated away.

The Aurors followed me to a quiet clearing, the still disillusioned Orderers not far behind. Did the Aurors see them? Probably. They were allies… But asking for help with one girl would make them a laughing stock of the entire department.

I switched to stronger stunning and paralyzing charms. Two of the aurors concentrated on defense, while the other three continued attacking me. We jumped around the clearing for a good thirty seconds until I succeeded in entering the mind of one of the Aurors holding the shield.

"Reducto!" screamed my auror, pointing the wand at his colleague. The curse hit inside their group shield. At the same time, I conjured "stone thorns" - transfigured sharp spikes springing up from the dirt below them. What would happen if you put a firecracker into a jar of pickles and then punched it with spiked knuckles? A very similar thing happened here - chunks of five Aurors on a spike.

The Order reacted in a flash.

"Reducto!"

"Bombarda!"

"Expulso!"

"Confringo!"

"Orbis!"

Four explosive curses and one blue mini-tornado. At the same time, they sent a request for backup to the Order and a message to the DMLE about the losses, though that was redundant - the aurors' amulets already did the same at their owners' death, and backup was on its way. Unfortunately for them, the Lestranges buried a heap of amulets in this clearing earlier today. And apparition here worked one-way. For them. Destroying them would be only too easy, but some had to survive to spread Elena's legend.

"Protego" I cast again.

I allowed my shield and two more provisionally applied defensive charms break under their spell and attacked back with a potato-peeling charm. This time I made no attempt to botch the spell. It broke through several layers of defenses, got completely ignored by Dark magic shields and hit one Orderer in the face, slicing off his cheek. He shrieked but stayed in formation.

"Bombarda Maxima!"

"Expulso!"

"Protego!"

"Deflecto!"

With Death Eater trademark "Wings of Darkness" I turned into a jet of smoke and dashed a hundred yards to the side.

"Expulso!" I screamed.

A lovely explosion. I followed it with a cascade of nonverbal Seco - their Protego collapsed but Deflecto continued to hold. Their faces reflected almost comical bewilderment - to take out a squad of Aurors and not tucker out…

"Stupefy! Incarcerous!" I added.

One staggered under my stunners, the rest answered with cutting curses. I landed a fish-gutting charm on one orderer's left arm. He did not drop from shock - these were at least smart enough to take potions before battle. Wouldn't save them from the Cruciatus, but an arm shredded to the bone was survivable…

"Sectusempra!" I went on.

Snape's modified cutting curse, leaves a difficult to heal wound, impacts the energy field - that is, Dark. But this body was too slow, leaving them time to shield and strike back. Together they attacked with a convoluted combination: shield penetration, increased sensitivity to acid, acid burst, and an explosive curse. Clearly my lethal attack made them reconsider taking me alive.

A strong mana shield absorbed everything. I continued my act of going from simple to increasingly difficult spells.

The Order goons held against a blunt strike and fire, but a mummifying curse finally took one down. Incredibly enough, he didn't die and the others tried to cover him. The difference an unsuitable wand made!

I continued my assault with a cascade of dark curses: disintegration, bone rot, blood boil… Far from full-powered, allowing them to shield themselves and their wounded comrade. The dawn of panic on their faces probably meant they realized their attempts to escape were futile. Noticed the wards? You won't break them fast enough…

They began resorting to not very legal curses. Pooling their effort into deflecting my lightning curse, one missed a nonverbal bone breaker. Now, that one was definitely dead. Only three were left standing.

At last, I could see fear in their eyes: the girl killed six experienced wizards in minutes, left one unconscious barely hanging on. And only hit two with Dark magic - was it pride or contempt?

The Cruciatus and the Killing Curse that flew at me reeked of desperation. I dodged. Yeah, they had nothing on the Longbottoms, the Sacred 28 taught by Moody and Dumbledore. I turned one inside out. A glob of flesh good as dead. The second one fell from a Crucio. While he was howling on the ground, I drew the final stoke: Fiendfyre. The thrird's terror was palpable without legilimency.

But killing all the witnesses was not on today's menu: my Fiendfyre failed. A burst of flame flew around wildly, broke the ward and died out. This occasionally happened with lack of magical energy or lack of experience. And anyone should have run out of juice by now…

Schooling my face into an annoyed snarl, I cast a relatively weak Seco, as if I had no energy for the Killing Curse. The only remaining hero's arm got a bone-deep cut just before he managed to apparte away, dragging his unconscious and post-Cruciatus shaking friends.

Without the need to clean up the evidence, I apparated away a few seconds later. Soon I was back at the Lestranges', unloading my purse and moving Ollivander to his new accommodations.

It seemed I made no mistakes. The Lord never used house elves. There will be no magic traces to be found at Ollivander's shop. Household charms? Unusual. But when they were not enough, she switched to more traditional battle spells. Dark magic? Not right away, the Cruciatus but no Avadas, failed Fiendfyre. Definitely not the Lord. And now Aurors would try to kill Lily on sight.

Back in my basement, I thought through my plans and tested more household charms until Bellatrix found me.

"My Lord, I have your cup! The vault truly was attacked! Allow me to share the memories!"

She pulled out an isolating container, and from it a gold cup that emitted a derangement of energies resembling the diary. Her story was bound to be interesting.