Chapter 24: The Dark Lord's Vacation

New day - new concerns. I had to find something occupy my time that did not involve powerful magic or performing before witnesses. A temporary house arrest, then.

Snape brewed me several potions. All my charms and artifacts declared them safe. While they did not return the lost years of life and any serious magic still threatened to send me to the grave, the pain was almost gone. Every day felt a little closer to normal than the last.

Maybe I should task Snape with developing magical drugs? Get the important people addicted… Or better, their children…

I checked and rechecked the bodies of Albus's relatives. They predictably did not come when I summoned their souls with the Resurrection Stone. I started to get a nagging suspicion that I was using it wrong. I briefly considered giving it to Bellatrix to test but was not yet that desperate.

Would Kendra and Ariana answer Albus's call? How much did he value them? I personally brought the bodies to Edward and forbade him from mentioning the new specimens to anyone. His job was to find the best way to use them, then bring in foreign experts who would issue independent opinions on the causes of death under secrecy vows. We will leak all of it when the time comes.

I left my father's body at my house. It would be best to also find my mother's, but where to start? Now, a number of shady wizards were diligently sifting through muggle records and checking old cemeteries.

I had to research the uses of ancestral bodies. So far, only Dark potions and targeted curses came to mind. There was also that "bone of a father" modification ritual… Well, the Lestranges can sweat over it and recommend who to use for the other two components. And while they are at it, set a trap at Little Haggleton cemetery. If someone tried to exhume my father's decoy body, they should get a surprise explosion and a delayed curse.

A few days after "breaking the compulsions," I stopped by Lily. She looked worse for wear - letting go of the old worldview was never an easy process. For once, she made me happy: wanted to train more often and asked for a list of spells I used against Rosier with notes on which of them were illegal and why. I indulged her, citing complexity, power and danger to the caster as reasons for the bans. And she could spar with Snape as much as she wanted.

She also asked for access to the Lestranges' library. I readily gave it to her and told the house elves to inform me of the books she was interested in. Unfortunately, instead of highly lethal spells or sacrificial rituals, she dug into the books on mental magic to check whether her adventure was real. Everything will check out. She will only find traces of behavior-modifying spells and confirm she was not hallucinating.

I showed her a page from the latest issue of The Daily Prophet . In short: You-Know-Who broke into Bathilda's home and brutally murdered her.

"That's not what happened, my Lord! It was a monster!" - Lily was exasperated.

"This is typical. All unsolved crimes are pinned on the Death Eaters, the most brutal cases - on You-Know-Who or his right hand. Bad cherry harvest? Voldemort's fault. House burned down? Voldemort's fault. Whore daughter pregnant at 14? She was under Voldemort's Imperius. Lazy slob of a son expelled from Hogwarts after failing all his OWLs? Voldemort cursed him…"

I started training her in occlumency twice a week. She put up shields, I took them down. Doing it with a wand and verbally was no challenge even in my condition. Lily's mind was as boring as they got. What do I care about her friend Mary McDonald moving to the US? Or that the Potters had a cat, and she was now worried about it? Or that Dumbledore borrowed their invisibility cloak and haven't returned it for a while? Should I try accusing him of theft?

Some memories showed her wand finally becoming more obedient. Her inner conflict weakened as she no longer considered Albus flawless and me evil incarnate (I saved her more than once, and the subconscious was a stubborn thing). She continued avoiding Dark magic and did not burn with loyalty or gratitude but at least no longer accused me of lying.

But even her mind contained crumbs of worthwhile information. I watched the memories of her last Slug Club meetings. Lily was one of Slughorn's favorites, maybe he let something slip… I held no hopes of finding a memory of him saying "I bought a cozy flat on the muggle side of Tottenham Court Road." But it was worth checking for something to narrow down the search… A postal address to send him candied pineapples, his plans to visit someone…

Back at my house, I began reading Dumbledore's paper on the uses of dragon blood. The Lestranges just bought and delivered a fresh container. Let's get started with plagiarism and repeat his experiments. Understanding the enemy and knowing what to expect was crucial to defeating him… And it would be all the more amusing if his work served my goals.

The Twelve Uses of Dragon Blood by Albus Dumbledore.

Use number one: a ruby amulet.

I poured some blood into an appropriately charmed cup and cast a freezing charm on it. If Albus was to be believed, the solidified blood will form a stone ostensibly similar to a ruby… in about three months.

This amulet was supposed to "guide the soul to a great purpose, imbue it with decisiveness and bravery," and "warn of approaching threats by changing color." But what intrigued me the most was its "intolerance of duplicitous behavior." How did a stone determine this? Another soul detector? Would occlumency block it?

And best of all: "produces flashes of flame when used by anyone dishonorable or blackhearted."

At first glance, trying to use something meant for the "pure of heart" was the height of stupidity. Nonetheless, it might prove useful… In my hands, it should be a perpetual fire generator! All I had to do was find a way to channel it towards my enemies. And that was why I worked in a remote lab in Northern England instead of the Lestranges' manor.

I was creating two stones: one to adapt into a flamethrower, one to gift to Bella as a token of special attention in place of Hufflepuff's cup. She will appreciate something so beautiful and dangerous, keep it in a fireproof safe at her Gringotts vault… I should also get servants to fireproof this lab before the stones are completed and begin burning in my proximity.

Why was it possible to crystallize red dragon blood but not green, anyway? Thus far, the Death Eaters who received orders to crystallize magical creature blood only saw results with redcaps: a dull substance resembling dark bottle glass. Scans detected no special qualities. I wonder, what would happen to drinks aged in bottles made from this "glass"?

Use number two: medicinal.

Processed dragon blood sped up the healing of external and internal wounds, stopped bleeding, had antibacterial, antiviral and other minor properties. Pity it was useless for potions overdose.

A knife cut on a prisoner, add the processed blood… It worked as advertised.

Since then, a number of captives got subjected to a novel torture: shallow cuts covered with blood of magical creatures in different stages of processing. We had yet to find any useful effects. Although, the blood of several creatures was poisonous or corrosive… A new torture method counted as progress. Rosier, Mulciber and the Carrows were ecstatic.

Use number three: combat applications.

Coating items in dragon blood improved their quality. It could be used to make blades lighter, more durable, poisonous… and about fifty more options down the list. Sadly, most effects appeared at random.

But this was the 20th century… ammunition capable of penetrating magical shields… It was a project for the indeterminate future, but Rookwood already received an order to work on a machine gun with charmed bullets. When I tested bullets soaked in dragon blood, they reacted strangely with propellant gases- the gun did not fire. If Rookwood failed to solve this, he should at least build a crossbow.

In the meantime, we will make do with dragon blood tempered knives accelerated with telekinesis. I stuffed my pockets with newly treated blades. Too bad that apparition had limits on weight and distance proportional to power - not even I could apparate with the entire Death Eater arsenal or a dragon in my pocket.

My most incompetent loyalists got new jobs: dipping various items into the blood of magical creatures. No beneficial effects on weapons yet, but certain blood was excellent at dissolving steel. Or igniting it.

But if Albus were to be believed, dragon blood had another, much more pertinent combat application: "bathing in dragon blood grants warriors protection in battle. Non-charmed blades and weak spells bounce off their fortified skin."

I experimented on spare material. A muggle bathed in dragon blood withstood knives, sledgehammers and gunshots without a single mark left on his body. Stupefy and Impedimentia did nothing. Machine gun fire left bruises. Grenades and Reductos blew them apart just the same, only into fewer pieces.

It sounded promising. But first of all, I already had ways to defend from pests. Second, "if the the blood is not washed off, the soul becomes infected with exponentially increasing greed." A muggle from the control group lasted 17 hours, a wizard was gone in 35. Both lost their minds, muttering "everything is mine" with crossed eyes. What if I covered them with blood for an hour, washed it off and repeated 17 times? Would they still go insane?

And third. Albus wrote that it was best to use the blood of a dragon "killed in a fair fight." What did "fair" even mean? Challenge an overgrown lizard to a duel? Simply kill an adult dragon one-on-one without poisoning it beforehand?

I started thinking. How much stronger would the effect be? Killing a dragon was well within my power. Even one-on-one. With no risk whatsoever… Reference books said one dragon yielded 150-300 liters of blood. Realistically, the largest I could access was the Hungarian Horntail. Was it really time to sell tickets to "The Dark Lord vs. Horntail"? The phrase "fair fight" bothered me…

By the way, I should add plagiarism to the list of accusations against Albus. The Germans had a legend about a warrior who bathed in the blood of a dragon he defeated, The Song of the Nibelungs.

Albus's paper mentioned soaking armor in dragon blood to increase its resilience. The bathtub I used for soaking muggles would probably withstand an anti-tank shell. At least, my Reducto did nothing to it. Or maybe I was still too out of shape? I vividly remembered Hogwarts, filled with statues and suits of armor. If Albus treated even a part of them with dragon blood… He had a horde of golems resistant to anti-tank missiles… I suddenly lost all desire to storm the school. Snape should check them and hopefully prove me wrong.

But then, we could make our own golems and strengthen them with dragon blood. How many would blood from one dragon cover? Death Eater uniforms were already treated with it, and we could not afford to crash the market…

Use number four: energizing drinks.

Albus, you must not be playing with a full deck after all. Who thinks about war and drinks simultaneously?

"A drink prepared with dragon blood boosts vigor and vitality for the entire day. Despite the sensation similar to that of the Liquid Luck, it does not give the drinker powers over reality or the ability to see two steps ahead. The effects are purely energizing."

The holy grail of all night owls and students… Thirty-six recipes. For example: 1 cup milk, 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp blood of Common Welsh Green, 1 tbsp lemon juice, cream to taste, cup of tea, mix everything and age two days in a cool dark place.

Insignificant, but it will do as a coffee replacement. The lack of special abilities was rather disappointing, but on the other hand there were also no side effects. And paying a small fortune for drinks was no object - it was not my money, after all.

Use number five: pigments.

"Dragon blood is dried in the sun, powdered, and mixed with varnish in 1:40 proportion. The resulting bright red or green paint cannot be scraped off, dissolved, vanished or removed in any other way."

I painted objects and walls in the Lestranges' lab. The paint withstood the strongest acids. I tried using it to draw runes. The blood did not enhance them in any way, but its weather-proof quality was impressive.

On the off chance that someone got past the Fidelius, I decided to add defensive runes to my house. Nothing compared to a family source like the Lestranges had, but it would buy me some time to escape. The house elves begged to help. I ordered them to draw runes on the fence. A experiment on a skillet showed that runes drawn by house elves could not be charged by anyone. But let it serve as a psychological weapon: the Dark Lord's fence covered in uncharged chicken scratch runes… Anyone with magical sight was guaranteed a brain freeze.

The new 1982 year arrived quietly. I completed the runic patterns. Red and green runes all over the walls, ceiling and carpet looked macabre, but now the house itself will help me. I didn't waste five days on renovations for nothing!

Since I still had no energy to spare charging the runes, I invited Bellatrix. In awe of my display of trust, she charged everything in two days. I really wanted to invite her to bed, but it had to wait until her husband problem was resolved. He had some feelings towards her, and who knows if these wizards had ways to check for marital fidelity. Tom was never interested enough to find out. My knowledge in the subject began and ended with the spell I saw Snape cast on Lily. And risking of quarrel with the Lestranges outweighed the rewards.

My people tried creating paint from other creatures' blood, so far without success. The only notable case was salamander blood paint, which set a house ablaze when applied to the fireplace.

Use number six: toothpaste.

"… Blood is separated into its basic components, distilled and dried. The resulting powder is mixed with ground mint and applied to teeth. This toothpaste heals small wounds, strengthens gums and teeth. Frequent use causes excessive tooth growth…"

At first glance, it was foolish and trivial. But politeness won wars. What could be better at shattering all presuppositions about a horrible Dark Lord than an affable, sparkling-white smile?

Experiments on muggles showed that even broken and removed teeth regenerate after one and a half weeks. We could bankrupt dentists if there were enough dragon blood for the entire population…

Attempts to turn other magical creatures' blood into powder produced a wide variety of results: seventeen types of emetic powder, endless allergen powders, two types of weak poisons… The experiments continued.

Fortunately, we were able to conduct them without increasing the British rate of casualties. Everyone was satisfied: sadists like the Carrows tortured productively, scientists like Rookwood eagerly researched. Fanatics like Rosier reveled in solving the muggle problem, softies like Nott consoled themselves that the muggles did not die for nothing.

Use number seven: cleaning agents.

"Processed dragon blood is excellent at removing rust and tough stains. A stove cleaned with the powdered solution remained pristine for many years."

It worked. I overdid it the first time and was left without an oven- the cleaner corroded it like an acid burst. They should have written the dosage in larger letters. This led me to an obvious conclusion: it would dissolve skin just as well. When I informed Rosier that dragon blood cleaning powder can be used to slowly dissolve muggles, his joy knew no bounds.

Experiments with blood of other animals had cost us a lab: powder from erumpent blood exploded… Luckily, the only casualty was not even marked.

Use number eight: language learning.

Dragon blood was the main ingredient in a serum that facilitated the learning of any human or magical creature language. To test it, I opted for Classic Maya. Lestrange had an entire 600-page book dedicated to the creation of a single extremely powerful runic trap, a book he maintained was impossible to translate accurately. I will see for myself in a month or two… Albus was not idiot to stumble into an obvious trap.

Furthermore, adding several drops of blood in each ear gave a temporary ability to understand the language of magical birds. This must be how Albus communicated with his familiar… It really worked: I listened to magical dodos, hoping to learn their unique type of apparition. But "imagine where you want to go, and if it is not too far, you are already there" was unworkable.

Dropping blood of other magical animals into muggles' eyes, ears and other orifices resulted in nothing except burns, poisoning and, in especially severe cases, death.

Use number nine: divination

"A drop of dragon blood in each eye brings prophetic visions and dreams. However, the visions are unpredictable and uncontrollable. You will occasionally lose mundane sight and see future events of different levels of probability."

It sounded nice, on the surface. You would truly see the future. One possible scenario at a time. And you won't be able to control it or know the probability of it occurring… The blood showed a fragment of the tree of possibilities but gave no ability to distinguish the most probable branches that all true seers had. You could guess 10 out of 10 or zero out of a million. You could see the dead sun billions of years in the future or yourself breaking a cup in ten seconds. And none of it would necessarily happen.

Tom tried this during his divination studies. Useless, nothing more than a random dream generator. I did not need dragon blood to know that anything was possible.

A captive wizard proved my point when he started spouting nonsense about "cold threads of eternity." Let Mulciber think what to do with him.

I wonder, could dragon blood or other magical creature parts be used as hallucinogens? I should test it. But not on myself.

Use number ten: an alarm.

"The dragon is a mighty, vigilant beast that defends its family and territory like no other. Accordingly, dragon blood spilled in the doorway while chanting a spell (see appendix 16), forewarns the owner of ill intent. Whenever an enemy is nearby, green or red blood will turn black. Anyone who walks through doorway wishing harm will suffer severe burns."

An enemy was very unlikely to reach my door unnoticed, if they used it at all. Moody would surely blast through the wall, and Albus would come by phoenix… Still, I painted my door and cast the corresponding charm. There was no spell for walls or window panes, and I did not know how to create one.

I also bought a sneakoscope and a foe-glass through the Lestranges. The sneakoscope glowed red and spun with a deafening howl even when set to minimum sensitivity. And the foe-glass showed a silhouette of a crowd. I tried to count them but lost track - probably the whole of magical England.

Use number eleven: love potions.

Dragon blood is often used as an ingredient in love potions (96 recipes, see appendix 19). Some are extremely strong and maintain their effects for years. For two people already bound by true love, a dragon blood love potion will grant the ability to feel each other from a distance like mated dragons."

Wizards as a whole had an odd obsession with love potions… And barely regulated them…

What I liked the most was the effect of adding too much dragon blood: "the ensnared lover will torment you with incessant affection, and the bond between you will never let you escape." I wonder, would a couple hundred housewives lusting after Dubledore distract him? Or even better, lovesick men? One recipe only required the victim to see the target's image… Albus was in for fun times. He is going to be busy curing people of love potions instead of searching for Death Eaters.

Use number twelve: artifact destruction.

"Dragon blood combined with sulfuric, hydrochloric, phosphoric and nitric acid in 5:4:3:2:2 proportion destroys most artifacts. The solution turns black on contact, then ignites and burns up the item."

Not likely to work on a horcrux… Could it remove protections from charmed walls? Breach the Hogwarts gates?

For now, my subordinates were dipping cheap artifacts into tubs of this solution. It appeared to be a dead end: the blood either did not work or dissolved the tub along with the items.

Well, Albus must either have an extraordinary range of skills or be completely and utterly mad. But his research will be useful. Especially the combat applications. It turned out that inferi, zombies and liches soaked in dragon blood became much more resilient… Everyone at the Crouch manor will get a surprise. And then, making the Death Eaters impervious to stunners… Sure, there were powerful Light stunning and binding charms, but they clearly lied beyond most people's abilities. Considering that the Order had a hang-up about Dark magic use, they will either have to move their moral goalposts or face serious problems…

How many undead and golems could we bring to Crouch's house? And other creatures… A giant covered with dragon blood! They were already nearly impervious to magic… unfortunately, a single one took over a hundred liters. Dementors were another regrettable example - they went up in flames on contact with dragon blood. And a werewolf's transformation canceled the effects. How to bathe a bloodthirsty wolf was unclear… Automatic showers? Transfigured monkeys with brushes under Imperius?

I gave clear orders not to experiment on goblins, merepeople, veelas, centaurs, vampires, werewolves or other intelligent magical creatures- we did not need any more organized resistance. This caused problems with reagents. Worthwhile magical creatures were rare. I saw how my servants dealt with this. Take, for example, a thestral. They trapped one, cut off all limbs and wings, destroyed its eyes and ears and restrained it. The resilient animal did not die but could not heal either, allowing then to safely draw blood once a day.

So how did Albus discover all these uses of dragon blood? And why specifically dragon? We wasted a ton of humans, ingredients and labor for very modest results… Albus could not afford our methods and must have done something different. Did he try it on himself? Then he was either he luckiest wizard in history or a high density ghost. I refused to believe he hid a dozen horcruxes somewhere. Did he truly calculate it theoretically? I wanted to know how!

I read several of Albus's biographies. None of them mentioned the spells he used against Grindelwald, but the information on his hobbies might prove useful. Chamber music and bowling. Why barge into Hogwarts when he regularly came out into the muggle world? We could blow him up in a bowling alley… Or curse the instruments with Siren's Aria…

The special poison was also underway. It will take a year to complete, giving me enough time to find the final ingredient- basilisk venom. I already had an idea for its delivery: Albus's muggle lemon drops. Now the Lestranges were monitoring muggle candy producers in England. I should get Snape or Hume to bring me some samples for analysis, in case Albus had a favorite supplier.

I continued my studies under Rabastan's cover. He hired new tutors in addition to the South America and European specialists in Light and healing magic.

A Japanese wizard with unpronounceable name who responded to Yanamoto was teaching me building and architecture. But 410 ways to build a pagoda and roof architecture were not the reason I hired him. On the other hand, the instant concrete hardening charm… I was certain I could tweak it to solidify ALL fluids in the human body. Or demolition charms for enemies who barricaded inside a building without magical defenses. Or a specialized telekinesis spells that moved only a single type of material with much less energy. So, Crouch's manor will fall. Right on top of its defenders… Also, a specific mistake in one fireproof charm made objects more flammable. And a botched termite-repelling charm made people more appealing to conjured flesh-eating bugs.

I decided to learn more about magical creatures. In this, Rabastan was assisted by a Russian named Petr Smolaninov. Tom's knowledge of creatures outside the school program was limited to how to avoid meeting them, how to escape, and how to kill them if escape was not an option. And, of course, what potions and rituals required their parts. Had the lessons not been theoretic, I would have embarrassed myself. Who could imagine that Avada Kedavra did not work on a Cerberus? The giant three headed dogs only went down from three simultaneous Avadas from three different wizards and could withstand Fiendfyre for some time! And something as simple as music or singing put it to sleep… Maybe I should plant a Cerberus somewhere? Or make clothes from its hide?

There was another reason I chose this particular magical creature expert: he once took part in a successful capture of a phoenix. He gladly shared the memories for extra payment. Our initial plan to repeatedly hit the phoenix with the killing curse until it ran out of accumulated rebirth energy needed drastic revisions…

Petr also identified the exact species of my Patronus from a drawing: horned serpent, nearly extinct save for the few surviving in North America, XXXXX-class, symbol of one of the Ilvermorny houses.

Before our relationship with Africa suffered too much damage, we were searching for a teacher from Uagadou. The African school was a goldmine. Its acclaim in self-transfiguration held many promises - from my metamorphism goals to hope for the werewolves. And I was very interested in their acceptance announcement through Dream Messengers. Dreams may not be used to kill… But people could be frightened to death, right? Or wake up with a grenade in hand… without the pin.

How to gather material from Africa without offending the largest wizarding school? I will only take muggles. Will not attack the school or even its home country. And won't touch the wizards. Not even the muggleborns' families.

My public image on the home front had its own share of problems. Tom always dragged Nagini around and spoke parseltongue to boast his Slytherin heritage. I had to find an impressive-looking snake and show everyone I was still a parselmouth. I did not enjoy theater, but authority must be maintained.

My options… Find another magical snake? Then how to explain what happened to the old one? The Lord could not keep his familiar in check? The only excuse would be replacing her with a better, more formidable snake.

A great deal of money could buy a runespoor. Three-headed African vipers that grew up to seven feet were very popular with Dark wizards. But first of all, it was cliche. Second, it inspired inconvenient associations with schizophrenia: even the Lord's snake is insane, fights itself and has no idea what it would do next. Third, rumors said that in some specimens the middle head was a seer. I loathed prophecies. And did not believe in them. " The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies." Utter nonsense. What if it was about me, a foreign soul? I was not born in July, but the prophecy did not specify the starting counting point. And who knew what "thrice defied" meant? And anyway, the Dark Lord was Dumbledore. I'll be Marvolo the White! So let's stay far away from seers, even if they are runespoors.

The best candidate was a basilisk. But the Indians refused to share or sell theirs. Poach, rob, steal? If only I knew where to look… Plus, the Indians were a tad obsessed with magical snakes and would probably consider theft of a basilisk a public desecration of their national symbol. And I did not know how to retrieve the one from Salazar's Chamber.

So, I had another plan: bringing a horned serpent from North America. A vanished wild snake would not cause a scandal. It drowned. Or swam away. You should have kept a better eye on your animals.

A beast the size of a basilisk will surely impress everyone. And it had some magical properties to boot… Once I recovered, I should be able to take it without a fight- no snake resisted the orders of a parselmouth of my power and mental abilities. Though, why take it by force? Maybe one of them would like the idea of traveling the world and repopulating Europe with its descendants…

As far as I understood, these creatures were able to survive on land but became dangerously cranky without spending at least half a day in the water. The Lestranges' house elves began digging a giant basin near their manor. And "Burke's friends" who went to America in search of wands and ingredients carried with them a large number of ordinary water snakes to release into the Great Lakes. The snakes had orders to find a large horned serpent and tell it that a powerful human speaker offered to take it in. Snakes were excellent at tracking their kin, and at least one horned serpent should agree and come to the designated place of pickup. My people were already set to monitor that lagoon every day.

I was also concerned with Newt Scamander, the top expert on magical creatures. He may be too morally uptight to serve me, but a legilimency session was in order once I found him. Newt considered the 1965 ban on experimental breeding of dangerous creatures his greatest achievement, and I wanted to know why. Did he see something alarming? I could really use some workable breeding algorithms. Maybe cross a basilisk with a horned serpent…

Speaking of experts, capturing Ollivander might have been a mistake. His obsession with wands was contagious. How could so many wizards not care what they used to create magic? What if the wand exploded? Or stopped working? Or fired at its own master? Wands were no hammers, they did not simply serve anyone who picked them up.

I tried my hand at crafting an "Elder Wand." Pensieve memories helped me reconstruct the exact copy of Dumbledore's wand shell. I planned to stuff it with a number of "Dark cores": dementor's bile, hawk claw, white wolf tooth, cockatrice eye… Of course, it would be nothing more than a prop: I was no master wandcrafter, and multiple cores made casting impossible even in principle. Hopefully, this one won't explode like my last four attempts… But the room had stationary wards, so everything should be fine.

One day, an anonymous criminal will kill someone with a conspicuous wand that look just like Dumbledore's. The DMLE will demand his wand for analysis… If Dumbledore indeed had THAT wand, handing it over would be a terrible idea. And resisting a criminal investigation would tarnish his reputation. Also, when I kill Albus, next to his corpse will be found a broken wand made from horribly illegal ingredients… Yes, Lord Voldemort broke the legendary Elder Wand to put an end to the long chain of murders. Hail the hero!

Some wizards were obsessed with becoming stronger. But why would I want the most powerful wand I can not control? I'd rather sacrifice power for absolute loyalty and never find myself wandless in a crucial moment. According to Ollivander, ash and unicorn hair made the most loyal combination. The problem was, ash did not match and unicorn hair outright contradicted my magic. Still, I picked an ash and dragon heartstring wand from Ollivander's stock as an emergency spare. Casting with it was only barely easier than wandlessly. But thanks to ash, anyone who took it from me would struggle even more.

I also decided to create my own spell. Riddle developed several Dark and deadly ones in his days.

My first inclination was something against house elves. But I did not know enough of their nature, and they burned just fine as they were. I put it off, or rather, entrusted it to Rookwood.

Then I wanted to create a spell against muggles. But Tom had already beaten me to it and taught the Death Eaters. One was a simple air-based spell, similar to a small but concentrated version of "air fists." For ordinary wizards, it worked like a machine gun: fast rate of fire, lethal to muggles, easy to cast non-verbally. Riddle's power brought it closer to tank fire, but it remained ineffective against most magical shields. The second curse he created became a staple for destroying clusters of talentless enemies: a wave of death energy that turned everything living in its path into dust… Sadly, it was even easier to block with magic than the first. Riddle planned to develop a magical counterpart of bioweapons next but did not have time.

Personally, I was more interested in tinkering with necromancy. Take, for instance, the standard Serpensortia - conjuring snakes of various size and venom strength depending on the effort. I decided to improve it. Did some calculations… Two days later, I killed a magical snake with Avada and performed a ritual to isolate its behavior program for my future spell.

There existed many "Darkness"- based spells. It was a generic term for something black that dissolved most magical barriers and matter on contact. I conjured a tiny bit of difficult to control black fog. It brought on another fit of pain. But before long, the fog condensed into the shape of a snake that dissolved everything it touched at the cost of losing volume. The beauty of my new spell lied in the fact that the little black snake was self-guided: it understood Parseltongue and followed orders. Lacking a physical body, it completely ignored Vipera Evanesco, Reducto, and all Unforgiveables. It could only be taken out with charmed fire, Light or Dark magic. Or by placing it into a tank with walls so thick it would dissipate before eating through them (calculations showed a snake of Nagini's size would need over 38 tons of mundane rock). How strange… New spells usualy took much more time an effort to create. Was it a side effect of working with snakes as a parselmouth?

I had to keep building on my successes. The Japanese tutor showed Rabastan spells for folding origami. I originally thought to use them against undefended targets as an alternative to turning them inside-out, to undermine the enemy morale. But then, a different idea came to mind… My servants began importing muggle steel. I have not recovered enough to work with thick bulletproof sheets. On the other hand, thin rolls…

The next day, I folded a thin sheet into a giant steel spider and animated it. Very mediocre… Good for nothing more than scaring unarmed muggles. Dragon blood would make the spider more resilient, but it would still be very stupid. It only followed basic orders- go, attack… Making a quality golem was too tedious and time-consuming, especially in my condition. But I knew a solution. Sacrifice. It would imbue the golem with an imprint of a mind and make it work better. I wiped the sweat of labor off my forehead and started on a second steel creature.

Technically, I could animate it with a human mind. But the human shape did not fare well in unarmed fight, and human behavior in any other body would result in an epileptic twitching golem.

Apart from humans, I only knew how to perform the necromantic animation ritual with snakes. So for my next attempt, I made a snake-like golem and attached a snake behavior program. It worked. The golem functioned, obeyed me and solved simple problems. Except it reacted only to Parseltongue and ignored pre-recorded commands… Fine, I'll write a guide to snake golem creation. The servants can then connect the algorithms to "bodies" under my supervision. I will order the new golems to stand by without attacking anyone, then give another order right before the assault.

So far, the "snake" fell easy prey to cancellation of transfiguration. Yet the French somehow made a golem impervious to my charms… Let the Death Eaters rack their brains over this. We could always smear the golems with dragon blood…

My pleasant observation of the multiton steel spider and snake was interrupted by the eldest Lestrange.

"My Lord, we need to talk."

"I am listening, Edward," I answered.

We walked down to his study, where he took unusually long putting up privacy wards.

"There were complications with your orders, my Lord. Regarding Ariana."

What, did she get up and walk away? I can tell a corpse when I see one.

"What complications? The body burned down?"

"No, my Lord. The body is intact. Three independent experts completed their reports on the cause of death. The Spaniard and the Frenchman said the same you and I did. But the German found another oddity on top of Avada Kedavra and incorruptibility charms on the body. He examined the energy strictures as well."

Dead muggles were sacks of meat. But in a freshly killed wizard, one could detect the remains of magical energy that used to flow through the body. Thanks to the incorruptibility charms, the corpse was as good as fresh. Edward handed me the report. Over eight hundred pages…

"Briefly, Edward."

"She is dead. The cause of death is Avada Kedavra, indisputably. But in life, she had a strange energy system."

"How strange?"

"I have never heard of, much less seen anything similar. My Lord, I am afraid we need to bring in Rookwood. His connections at the Department of Mysteries may help," - Edward advised.

"Anything else?"

"Sirius Black and Alecto Carrow began "true love" affair as you ordered. They already had several dates in our manor."

"How did it go?"

"We fed Black a number of subjugating potions but eventually decided to keep him unconscious as an extra precaution. I commanded him from the ritual chamber with the Marionette ritual."

I knew that ritual. Costly and complicated. Very limited effective distance. Required full immersion, as if directing a meat suit. And the potions were so obvious they could only be poured into captive. Just perfect for our case. Black most likely had no idea his body was spending time with Alecto.

"And Alecto? Does she not suspect anything? She is well-versed in Dark magic," I asked.

"In Dark magic, yes, but not in potions. Besides, I can conceal a great deal in my own house, and performing a full scan on a date is not exactly customary. Outside their dates, we had Alecto witness Black acting friendly with all Lestranges and cracking jokes while torturing prisoners. He begged for Alecto's hand and asked her to tell Walburga of his true allegiance. No one else knows about it."

"And what did their dates look like?"

"My Lord… Alecto has a… peculiar idea of romance. She dragged Black into our dungeons where they both tortured muggles… I am not certain about love, but Alecto has lost her head. Although, with such worldview, she would probably make an ideal Madame Black. I think Walburga will be delighted with her son's choice.

Sirius told Alecto his harrowing life story. How he, as a little boy, owled the Dark Lord and offered to serve as a spy among Gryffindors and learn Dumbledore's plans. How the Lord refused to accept his sacrifice, told him to go to Slytherin and make his mother proud. But the stubborn boy did everything his way, found you right after graduating and worked as your spy. He concealed his talent in occlumency and was forced to deceive his family, faking pro-muggle views to maintain his cover. That was the reason he he threw the Family Head ring at his mother and refused to kill a muggle at the altar."

Source-related rituals varied from family to family. Most involved drawings, candles, holding hands in a ring around the altar… Like the Lestranges, the Blacks were a very Dark family. For them, fully connecting to the source after coming of age involved sacrificing a human over the altar. Sirius Black was disowned when he refused to become a murderer. New interpretation: he was afraid that falling unconscious during the ritual (which was all but guaranteed) would reveal his secrets. He was as Gryffindor as Crabbe was a ballerina.

Would Walburga eat this up? Regulus served me openly, Sirius secretly… Lady Black, Dumbledore's minions took the lives of your sons, but you now have a grandson… She should be motivated to believe it. Any lie detection method will show Carrow's memories were real: Black truly loved her and was devoted to the Lord. And by that time, I will master Snape's occlumency and provide the "correct" memories.

"Have you been able to contact Walburga?" I asked.

"No, my Lord. She clearly lost her mind or contracted Moody's paranoia. Judging by magical disturbances, her wards have been on maximum since Samhain."

Hell, it was all too easy to get startled when something inside your warded home unexpectedly exploded. Breaking into the Black's house from the outside would not work- it was old and built to last by people not afraid to get their hands bloody with sacrifices. I had several Imperioed muggles watching the streets between Grimmauld 11 and 13, but it was a gesture of despair. Not even dropping a bomb on the street would harm the house.

"Any other complications?"

"The rest are trivial. No one can determine what killed Kendra. So far, the most plausible explanation is an unknown Dark curse. Also, Crouch has been looking under the weather lately. Did you happen to order him anything dangerous or extremely difficult?"

"No, nothing like that," I should to check his mind next time I see him. "Excellent job, Edward. Let us get back to to the topic of Albus's relatives. I would rather avoid having anyone else in the know. I'll check her one more time before calling Rookwood," I said and headed towards the basement.

Shortly, two Dark wizards were staring at a dead body. And indeed, after looking long enough with magical sight and using specialized diagnostic charms, something appeared very wrong: a number of her energy channels did not connect to the core. I was at a loss.

We called in Rookwood. He was thrilled to confirm this fact and said he did not understand anything, either. Now three Dark wizards were staring at the girl's corpse. But the Department of Mysteries had unique tools… For instance, the Polygone Edge- an artifact resembling a giant rubik's cube covered in runes. It analyzed entered data and shifted to form a string of runes which could then be interpreted with translation tables. While Rookwood could not take it out of the Ministry, he should have no problem using the spot, then erasing the records.

Rookwood returned a day later. He barged into the study as I was discussing dragon blood delivery schedules with Edward (Lord, if we show up with inferi and giants covered in dragon blood, its sales will immediately become regulated and the dragon preserves will increase their security…). Rookwood added a heap of his own confidentiality charms to the room, took off his mental defenses and devotedly stared into my eyes.

I saw him enter the data from memory. The room-size cube spins, keeps spinning for a long time… The runes form a line. Rookwood searches for the meaning in one reference book, second, third… And finally finds it: "Obscurial."

"Do you mean to tell me that Dumbledore's own sister was a weapon of mass destruction?"

"Apparently so. How she became one is puzzling, but it does explain why Grindelwald searched for a loyal Obscurial. It is generally believed they no longer exist, but I am no expert."

I doubted Albus tortured his sister or stopped her from using magic… He was still in school, and his mother did not fit the part of a jailer of a powerful Obscurus… But it made for a great public version: Ariana was stronger than Albus, so he lashed out in envy and tortured her… Or was shaping her into a superweapon for conquering the world… One day he went too far and accidentally killed her, so Grindelwald left to search for another Obscurial… But what really happened? Maybe Albus will be easier to kill if he is morally trampled first.

"How powerful and controllable are these creatures?" I asked.

"Very powerful, milord. Grindelwald had to reason with an Obscurial, unable to threaten it." Rookwood continued. "Defeating it took a coordinated attack of three dozen hitwizards. But at 16, it was the oldest Obscurial on record. Ariana died at 14 -which is also incredibly old- but she must have been weaker. As for control… The smoke form is completely uncontrollable. And the transformation throws off all influences- the Imperius, mind charms, potions, everything. The only option is convincing it in human form. But they intuitively sense deceit… What do you plan to do, my Lord? A perfectly preserved Obscurial is an incredible research opportunity. They are usually reduced to a matchbox of remains, contaminated with traces of spells from hitwizard teams."

"Research is definitely a worthy endeavor. Begin right away and keep me updated," I could not do much at the moment. It was mid-January, and I only just improved from an invalid to a garden variety weakling. "Poweful wizards transform themselves into water, smoke and more, but all such forms limit them to attacking with their bodies and reversing the transfiguration. Does it not sound intriguing, turning into pure darkness?"

"My Lord… It is very… ambitious.. but incredibly dangerous. And despite having a perfect sample, we can hardly copy something that is not human," Edward gently brought me back to reality. "We will give you a model of her energy channels, but an attempt to replicate it will almost certainly kill the subject."

"I am in no hurry and will proceed carefully. We now have another target- a living, knowledgeable witness. I need Aberforth Dumbledore," I issued the new assignment.

"My Lord… Aberforth Dumbledore seems weak only next to his brother. He is a wizard of Dolohov's level, though he does not flaunt it. He is in the Order and lives in Hogsmeade, right under his brother's nose - we won't be able to catch him unaware, and Dumbledore would come running. We may be able to kill him during one of the Order's operations, but I do not see a way to capture him alive."

"Think," I said. "If you can't come up with anything better, we will brew "Call of the Dead." Your job is to ensure he drinks it. Yes, I realize he is no mudblood patsy- be creative."

How would Albus react to his brother held hostage? Maybe I should offer him peace? Divide England in half… He can take all the mudbloods. And I would follow the treaty terms religiously. Until he dies of old age…

"So, if I understood you correctly we have a body of an Obscurial in absolutely ideal condition?"

"Yes, my Lord," Rookwood replied. "What do you plan to do with it once we finish the research?"

"An experiment. Has anyone ever tried raising a magic-wielding corpse from an Obscurial?"

Their eyes bulged out comically wide, making them look like overgrown house elves.

"My Lord… It would be best to conduct this experiment in a remote location, not in this house," Edward politely hinted.

"You are going to need a specially reinforced building. And a team of disposable wizards. Just in case," Rookwood added.