MOTH FLYING TOWARD FIRE

[Location: Classified]

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort's high-pitched, rasping, and hissing voice broke the air like the screeching of tires and a streak of blinding green light blasted out of the muzzle of the wand, like a striking snake. The wizard before him died instantly and his body crumpled like a puppet when he was struck, hitting the ground like a bag of meat.

The new and old Death Eaters just sat there frozen in fear around the round table. Drops of sweat began to drip from their forehead. The gloomy and dimly lit room was too suffocating.

Failure after failure... Every plan Voldemort made to capture Hogwarts failed over and over again. The guy just died... He was ordered to find information about the new man, who kept on disrupting his plans. Starting from Hogsmeade to the Ministry of Magic, every plan Voldemort made got spoiled by a single man. He lost more than half his army in that man's hand and even lost many Dead Eaters. To make things worse, for some reason, Bellatrix switched sides with him.

Who is he? Where did he come from? What's his family background? What kind of connections did he have? All those questions remained unanswered, and now he is sitting in the dark. His army was weakened, morale almost at the lowest point, and the reputed families who joined him were trying to run and hide, scared of this one man.

Voldemort thought that Dumbledore was the real threat whom he must kill to take the helm of the Wizarding World, but out of nowhere, a person started to threaten his position. Who was he and where did he come from?! Was he a student of Dumbledore's? An apprentice? A hidden potential? None of his theories made any sense.

"Leave me except for Mulciber," Voldemort ordered as he sat back on his chair, placing the wand on the table. He ran a hand along his snake-like face and glared at everyone from his fiery eyes. The air seemed to congeal. Most of those around the table hurried away. Mulciber stayed back as ordered. "Open your mind to me..."

Voldemort used Legilimens to get into Mulciber's mind.

"Don't resist. Show me your memories. I want to see it with my own eyes," He ordered the Death Eater, who shivered and twitched for a moment in the chair, the fingers that had been picking his robe spasming open and closed, but very gradually he seemed to have relaxed into the touch.

In Mulciber's memories, Voldemort saw the bloody battle of Hogsmeade where a young man slaughtered and tortured his army. But what surprised him were the undeads, who were fighting for that man.

"Necromancy?!" His eyes widened as he saw the undeads spamming curses nonstop without any weakness. Despite being the most powerful Dark Wizard, Voldemort also failed when it came to necromancy, due to lack of knowledge. All he was able to create were hordes of mindless monsters to fight for him, but this memory before him... This was beyond what he could do with necromancy. "Where did you learn such magic? Who taught you how to raise them and control such an army?!"

He continued to witness the fight, but in the midst of the fight, Mulciber ran away, cutting off the battle scenario.

"Argggg!" With a wave of his hand, Voldemort threw the death eater a few feet across the room and slammed into a bookcase, "You useless fool!!!!! Leaving the crucial parts!!!! He destroyed your legions, he killed many of my death eaters, and he controls a sea of dead bodies, which has even me, the greatest wizard alive, curious and that's what you can show me???!!! What is his weakness? Where did he learn all those skills? How did he grow so strong at such a young age? What's his limit? How dare you tug your tail between your legs and run away?" He took his wand from the table and extended it toward the death eater, pulling him up in the air.

"Forgive me, My Lord. I beg for your forgiveness. I'll do whatever you say... Just don't kill me." Mulciber begged for mercy.

"Is this why you came back so late? Hiding, were you?" Voldemort pulled his body and threw him on the table, pinning him, "Did you think I wouldn't know about what's happening around me? Crucio!" He flicked his wand as if flicking a fly, pointing it at the Mulciber, and the infamous curse activated, sending red bolts of lightning that were twitching all around his body, sending pulses of pain all around his system and a sound of screaming began to echo within the room.

"GAAAHHHHHHHH!!" Mulciber's body flopped and banged on the table like a fish as his mouth frothed.

Voldemort ended the torture curse and stood up from his chair.

Mulciber slumped back and fell off the table with a heavy thud, twitching on the floor.

"There's no place for cowards in my army, Mulcider, and it seems to me you've lost your usefulness," Voldemort warned, standing beside his fallen death eater, looking down at him with no sympathy.

"M-My Lord... One chance... I beg of you... One chance," He begged for forgiveness.

As Voldemort was about to kill him, Lucius Malfoy barged in.

"Ah! Lucius, the man of the hour, missing from our important meeting. I'm sure you have a better explanation for your absence in such critical hours," Voldemort narrowed his fiery eyes when the tall aristocratic wizard barged into the gloomy room.

"I do...My Lord," Lucius stammered, "My spies spotted Bellatrix and a young man in Godric's Hollow last night. She was heavily wounded and unconscious, and her body was being carried by a man. I thought I should inform you about this matter since Bellatrix was one of us and betrayed My Lord's will by switching sides... Perhaps you would want to end her miserable life or seek answers as to how it happened."

'Godric's Hollow! Bellatrix!' His mind raced with information. Bellatrix's body was wounded. The unknown boy carried her. This news stirred Voldemort and his calmness returned again, "You did good Lucius. You really did good by bringing such important information to me. I'm glad you didn't kill them or else, I'd have killed you, right here and now."

The pale-skinned Dark Wizard gave a very frightened look, "I... I wouldn't dare." He lowered his head.

"Is she alive or dead?"

"It's unknown. They hadn't come out of their room since last night. I ordered my spies not to raise any suspicion and keep an eye from afar," Lucius replied, still keeping his head low.

"That boy... Was he wounded or perhaps exhausted?" Voldemort turned around and looked at the messy table. Mulciber had already picked up himself and was kneeling on the floor.

"He was exhausted or else he would have used magic to carry her. Instead, he carried her on his back," Lucius replied.

"Good, very good indeed," Voldemort's lips opened in the manner of a predatory beast. "So, he had no other choice but to remain hidden after exhausting his power. Such power comes at a great cost, regular potions might not be able to restore his exhaustion in a short time... Bellatrix was a lost cause and she deserves that fate for betraying me, but... that boy..." He turned to Lucius, "Do what you wish with Bellatrix, but that boy... I want him alive. Can you do that for me Lucius? Bring him, right here before my eyes? Can you capture him, unharmed?"

Lucius kept his eyes fixed on the floor in total fear and confusion, "I shall carry out My Lord's will. I shall depart right now..."

"Prove your worth to me Lucius. Bring him alive and you shall be rewarded. The Mulciber family shall be yours to control. Their entire family, assets, everything would belong to you," Voldemort then looked at the trembling and pitiful Mulciber family member, "Such is the fate of a coward, Lucius. However, fail me and this is what will be your fate..." He raised his wand.

"AAARRGGHHH!!!" Mulciber tried to run and dodge the incoming curse by crawling, but it was no use.

"Avada Kedavra!"

With a green flash, Voldemort mercilessly killed the pathetic fool on the floor.

Lucius watched in shock as Mulciber's corpse rolled to the side and hit the stone floor. He just stared blankly and felt his legs quiver with sudden, breath-taking dread as Lucius heard his heart pounding in his ears as loud as a drum.

"24 hours is all you have. You are dismissed," Voldemort went back and sat on his chair, "Oh, do take out the trash on your way out and send me Mulciber Jr in."

"As you wish My Lord," Lucius bowed down and scuttled out with a dragging leg as his hands were full with the Mulciber corpse. He was so scared that he forgot to use magic to pull the dead body out of the room.

'Haaa... Soon, I shall have that power within my grasp.'

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[17 advance chapters] 

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Next, Ch: 34: A nice morning to die

Ch: 35: "Breakfast is important, Bella."

Ch: 36: Torture