Chapter 40: The Dark Lord Steals a Married Woman

There had been no assault on the Ministry. Our informants stirred panic over a magical blockade of London.

It caught everyone off guard. Agents and Imperio'd from our and foreign governments knew nothing apart from the fact that Albus waltzed into the Minister's office, and minutes later the country was in a state of emergency: wards around the entire city perimeter, sweeping charms for detection of magical creatures, every Auror recalled to London, including from vacations and foreign missions. And I had nothing to do with any of it.

The Death Eaters panicked. Rumors ranged from the Lord having done something unthinkable -gone to storm the Ministry alone or got captured and held under increased security- to the Ministry throwing away the rulebook and preparing to arrest everyone.

Once I calmed down the Lestranges, there was no alternative but to call a general meeting and soothe everyone else's worries, acting as a live mascot. Snape had nothing to report, either lying or not informed. Elena-Pandora set an example of cold-bloodedness.

I didn't quite understand what to do next and decided to respond with the same: commanded everyone to stay on high alert to counter a likely attack from the Ministry. Rosier took a new ritual knife and left to draw additional runes around the camp, Bellatrix went abroad to contract mercenaries, Dolohov stopped teaching the new "soldiers" how to enunciate "Crucio" and gave out combat artifacts, Macnair pulled out a Cerberus twice the normal size from somewhere, I was feeding Nessie Red Caps to make her a bit faster, Crabbe and Goyle were gluing protective amulets to Acromantulas… Only Malfoy alone contemplated how to prove he was innocent as a wayside fly. His thoughts were very peculiar: step out to the bathroom and cast the Imperius on himself?

Hours flew by, but the attack never came. No point in sitting around with bated breath. I found Edward in a ritual hall and offered to help him strengthen their wards. In the light of my latest calculations, it was time to think about children.

"Edward," I began, not looking up from charging the runes, "I want to speak with you about the future of the Lestrange family."

"My Lord… This is somewhat unexpected," he mumbled, poking around inside a muggle with a knife.

Personally, I would have stunned the muggle before cutting. Edward evidently thought that a securely restrained prisoner with removed vocal cords didn't need anesthesia. Why did strengthening their manor's wards necessitate killing someone? And if he had to be killed, why torture him beforehand? It wasn't required here… A conditioned dynamic stereotype?

"I beg you not to punish Rabastan, I am certain he was very careful."

Wait, what?

"I have his blood sample and sort of… tracked him. Sometimes he… he visits a muggle neighborhood. Always the same house. When I scanned him, I found female hairs… muggle hairs…"

Poor Edward. He must have noticed Rabastan running off to get hairs for Lily and suspected his son was hiding an affair with someone of unacceptable blood. His fatherly instincts and sense of duty had to be so conflicted… Kill the muggle and cruciate his son… Or was he desperate enough to accept a half-blood heir?

"Maybe… maybe we could marry my youngest to your student? I'd only need her information to check their compatibility," he continued.

Not a bad idea, but Snape would not appreciate it.

"I have nothing against it, my friend. But she is conducting experiments I can't abandon. She will likely be barren. Do you want another Bellatrix?"

Of course, I had no need of Lily with horcruxes. But Lily convinced that Albus made a phoenix horcrux and eschewed Dark magic to keep his sanity - such Lily would come handy. Who could have thought: Albus Dumbledore was so ineradicably evil that he became a Light wizard!

"Why rush? She can give birth, then go experiment all she wants," he said.

"Unfortunately, this job does not suffer delays. Why don't you get married yourself?"

"To whom? Purebloods are drop in the ocean, many oppose us. No one from abroad would willingly come to a war-torn country. As for the rest… Magic or not, I'd rather stay away from marrying relatives."

"What about Diana Crouch?"

"She'd cut my throat the first night! I have no desire to keep my wife under Imperius for the rest of her life. Besides, she brings nothing to the table! Their accounts are frozen, she doesn't stand out as a witch. And I haven't the foggiest if she is even a match for us."

"You only make it sound dreary. She is a healthy, pureblood woman of reproductive age, unrelated to you. We can work on her memories to have her fall in love with you. Between Malfoy's and Lockhart's methods, she will not remember ever being with anyone else. She is destitute, I give you that. But first of all, you are not poor yourself, and second, her accounts will be reactivated once we take over. And regarding adding her to the family… I know a way to guarantee success by having her son kill her husband properly."

Lestrange finished with the muggle, and the runes lit up with red glow.

"In that case, I suppose it's worth trying… Thank you, my Lord."

"This is not all I wanted to talk about. I see your son's marriage to Bellatrix never brought the desired results."

I looked especially deeply into his mind, for feelings he barely acknowledged to himself. Sadness… Longing for grandchildren. Edward liked Bellatrix well enough, but family came first. He briefly considered poisoning her, then decided his son was free to make his own choices.

"Rodolphus… He lost his head over this woman. I still don't understand what happened. She was normal before the wedding, then something withered in her… Not even her extracted eggs accept anyone's sperm. But I respect my son's choice."

I thought her problem stemmed precisely from their family source. It perfectly replenished her magical energy but barely cleared out "necroenergy." It was somehow preventing her from conceiving. Another one might fix everything.

Actually, my research was producing bizarre results. Rates of accumulation from murder and Dark magic varied from person to person and from spell to spell, but the speed of clearance had only three fixed values: wizard with a family source, wizard without one, and Bellatrix. Well, there was also zero for a wizard with a horcrux. By contrast, I had very thoroughly examined Andromeda: an ordinary disowned witch. When I asked her why she refused a perfectly respectable arranged marriage and ran away with a muggleborn, her answer was "love." A crazy theory connecting the Black family, necroenergy and love was slowly ripening in my mind…

"There is nothing stopping him from trying with someone else," I said.

"There is. His feelings."

"I can help your family again, Edward."

"We are forever grateful to you for saving our family from the curse. But I'm afraid in this case magic is powerless. I will not take away my son's free will."

"I am not offering to force feed him Amortentia or have women rape him. There is a much simpler and elegant solution. I'll take Bellatrix for myself. Then Rodolphus will have no reason to stay faithful to her. He isn't made of steel. Sooner or later he will find a lover, and you can add the child into the family."

"Do you think he'll accept?" Edward knew about my history with Bella, but outside of blood purity, he was a man of very few prejudices.

"I will take care of it. Right now."

Edward's eyes flashed with fear.

"No, I am not going to torture him. I won't even order him."

"You think it's possible? I suggested divorce countless times - he ignores my words. Not even taking Felix Felicis before talking to him helped…"

"I know how to be persuasive. Never say a word to anyone about our conversation. Perform any rituals you know to conceal these memories."

"Yes, my Lord. If you succeed, my debt to you will grow ever larger. I'll start preparing for the ritual right away."

One down. I could relax on this front.

Having finished with Edward, I went to find Rodolphus. He was in the library, absorbed in a book and fiercely scribbling something on a piece of parchment.

"Rodolphus, we need to talk," I began, putting up privacy charms.

"Of course, my Lord," he replied, putting away Taming the Poltergeist . I remembered it listing some curious spells for working with ghosts.

This was the hardest part: convincing him to give up the woman he loved. But I've been crawling around the Lestranges' heads for months and put together a plan of what to say to every one of them.

Before Tom secured his immortality and began relying on brute force, he was very adept at manipulating people. But he only ever used two strategies - flattery and intimidation. Even in his youth, he had a fatal weakness. He never understood people could sacrifice themselves for someone else, could willingly do something contrary to self-interest. Rarely. Not all of them. Not for just anyone. But they could.

I was not like him. I knew people had this quirk and didn't hesitate to use it. My arsenal included a third method: 'I am here to help you, I'll do what you need, but you must pay me for it.'

I started with casual banter: weather, Dementors, curses… Then it was time to get down to business.

"How's Neville doing?"

"All right, my Lord." Rodolphus started to tell me how they cared for the boy. Under his deceptively casual tone, I felt gnawing jealousy and regret that the child was not his.

"I have many loyal followers, but I gave him to Bellatrix. Do you know why?"

"Because we are your most faithful servants and can raise him a worthy Death Eater."

"It is, without doubt, true, but not the main reason. I know Bellatrix's thoughts."

I held a dramatic pause. Every decent wizard had some command of occlumency, but Bellatrix and Rodolphus were relatively equal and could not read each other. Besides, most people obeyed the unwritten rule of staying out of their loved ones' heads - hard to love someone while being privy to their thoughts.

He stilled, visibly torn between good manners and curiosity.

"She is suffering because your marriage robbed her of the chance to be a mother."

Rodolphus's eye twitched. He pushed away his drafting instruments and ordered a house elf to serve wine.

This was a hit below the belt. Of course, Bellatrix only loved the Lord, but she was fond of her husband. She never blamed him for the tragedy and long since forgiven the dead ham-fisted wizards who did their compatibility calculations.

"I gave her Neville not to raise a worthy servant, not to reach the Longbottom's money, not to preserve magical blood, but to bring her some relief. It didn't help."

The wine glass pitifully cracked and fell from his hand in a shower of shards.

"I… I suspected it's weighing down on her," said Rodolphus, downing the next glass.

Suspecting was worlds away from knowing. How wonderful that he believed me without proof…

"She thought of leaving you to conceive."

Strictly speaking, nothing was stopping them from divorcing. Except, ceasing to be a Lestrange would not automatically return her to the Black family. And who'd want to take in a mentally unstable, infertile woman obsessed with a homicidal maniac? With her biography, the only option was running to Albus in hopes of a pity pet.

"My Lord… is your information accurate?"

The world was full of childless couples, but knowing that the woman you love is only staying with you out of desperation hurt on a wholly different level.

I nodded.

"So what can I do?" he asked. "I've searched for a way to cure her. There is none."

"You know I am researching spells used by Slytherin. Some I pulled out of his wand, others - from his notes in the Chamber of Secrets. There is a ritual… If modified, it may help her bear children."

"What does it require?" Rodolphus spoke quietly, but his entire demeanor betrayed his interest.

Now to feed him hogwash I'd be too embarrassed to tell even Lily.

"The ritual itself is not the issue. The child's father must be an extraordinarily powerful wizard. I myself barely make the cut."

I had to be extremely attentive here, in case he tried anything stupid. Legilimency didn't make me omniscient. People's thoughts developed unpredictably, and a wrong query often led away from key information.

"My Lord, I agree," he replied.

Wonderful! But suspiciously easy…

"We'll raise your child as our own. At last, Bella can be happy with me!"

What? No! I need your wife for good, not for one time! Where is your pride?! Let her go!

"The ritual requires a magical marriage, a high binding ceremony. She will be compelled to stay faithful to me for the rest of her life." Listening to Edward's endless options for Black and Carrow was not a waste of time after all.

Rodolphus hesitated. I could practically feel the cogs turning. Snape acted the same when he contemplated going to Dumbledore to beg for Lily's life. What would win: lust and jealousy or love?"

"My Lord.. Would you have time for a woman and a child?"

He almost gave up, holding on to the smallest straw of why he shouldn't let her go for her own good. Amusingly, neither he nor Edward ever considered Bellatrix might not want this.

"I have a Time-Turner. This will be a great boon to our cause. As a true son of Salazar, I am only missing a worthy wife. I offer the perfect lineage of the greatest Founder."

He wouldn't believe in a sudden spark of love. This way, it was both calculated and bound to make Bellatrix happy.

"I agree, my Lord. Do I need to divorce her?"

"Don't sleep with her but hold off the divorce. It would lower her combat effectiveness."

"Will she be living with you?"

Good question…

"She is my secret keeper. Until I find a more suitable home, she will stay here."

I watched Rodolphus. Dumbledore always praised the power of love, but so far I only saw it turn people into drooling doormats: Lily loving Harry, Severus loving Lily, Rodolphus loving Bellatrix… I silently promised myself to never fall in love - I'd live longer and better.

The only part I disliked was the binding marriage ceremony. If she cheated, I should take care of it myself, because those daft fidelity oaths cursed willing cheaters and rape victims alike. We'd still need to rely on a ritual, not necessarily the marriage kind. Make Crouch conduct it… If it cured her, great. If not, I'd have a child from someone else and have her take care of it. Bellatrix was extreme in her obsession . She would kill another woman but welcome the Lord's child from a different mother.

"Everything I told you is to remain an utmost secret. It is an order. You may only inform your father, brother and Bellatrix about your change of family status."

I could finally rest! Bellatrix was about to return from her assignment, and she needed no convincing.

With these pleasant thoughts, I got caught off guard by multiple emergency summonses. They all had the ability to contact me through the Mark, but no one ever… abused the privilege. What happened for this many to call at once?

I focused on the sensation… Rosier, Nott and Amycus Carrow. All three from the same spot near our camp.

The mood instantly soured. Travers's head popped out of the fireplace. I canceled my privacy charms.

"My Lord, the processing camp is under attack," he reported. "We can't fight them off without you!"

He believed it to be true… It wouldn't hurt to bring the Lestranges, in case of a set up.

"Sebastian asked to bring Edward!" He stared into my eyes, concentrating on the event to ease the reading of information.

Setting a personal speed record, I looked through his thoughts. Nothing nearly as bad as he made it sound. No Albus, no Aurors, no direct assault - just the Ministry trying to pinpoint us with some ritual.

I summoned Edward, and a house elf at once apparated him into the room.

"Father, I'm coming with you!" said Rodolphus.

"No point - it's not a fight, we can't connect an extra person-"

I cut their goodbyes short and flooed us both to the target. An ordinary though spacious room was already filled with the usual lines and runes. Folks were in a hurry, hadn't even had time to prepare a sacrifice yet. The Carrows and Nott waited in their respective corners, sparkling like Bengal lights. Edward took the fourth, and I stood in the center to grab hold of the control threads. As the most powerful of them, I got entrusted with leading the ritual.

The magic rushing through me gave the sensation of being thrown out of my body. I watched the scene from above, powerless to do anything but manipulate the streams. Something invisible was pounding on the wards from within…

"My Lord," Rosier's voice sounded as if from underwater, "during my daily inspection, I noticed strange fluctuations in the concealment systems. I took the liberty of calling others for help. The shifts continued growing despite our efforts. When it became apparent this is an attack with Dark magic, we called you."

I tried to make sense of the situation. The enemy's magic acted like a magnet, affecting something within our camp… Calling something through the charms that were blocking its path. If we continued to do nothing, the charms would come off. And then, this place would quickly become crawling with Aurors and Albus.

I was not at all prepared for a fight: hadn't bathed in dragon blood, hadn't performed any enhancing rituals, Nessie could not be quickly transported here, new projects were all in preliminary stages… And frankly, nothing we had stood a chance against the united forces of the Order and Ministry… Retreat? Prisoners were no big loss, but this place housed expensive equipment, ingredients, Malfoy's homunculi, stationary artifacts… Stupid to leave evidence… Burn everything with Fiendfyre? Wasteful… The only reasonable option was thwarting their efforts to detect us, then leaving the exposed location.

Nothing happened at first glance, but in magical sight, my form entered a cluster of rays that were pushing against the wards. I began blocking them one by one. Choosing one that looked the densest, I visualized a map of Britain to conjure its trace far away from us. Body immediately ached… There were so many of these rays… And so I toiled on, like a miner digging for coal, with colleagues lighting the way and handing me instruments…

Again and again I took the threads of foreign energy under control, created their traces elsewhere, and dissolved them. As the threads vanished, I was slowly approaching the point of their origin. At the end of the last one, I was forced to transform into the pure mind form and braced for potentially deadly hallucinations.

From the outside, I must have appeared a cloud of dark mist hovering in the center of our ritual circle. My mind, however, interpreted the resistance as my physical body walking against a water current. Waves of magic from the enemy ritual hit me in the chest and stomach, stray spell fragments formed sharp rocks and twisting threads at the bottom… Occasionally, they slipped from under my feet and rolled away, colliding with one another… And all that was illuminated with curious reddish glow.

Carefully feeling my way through the stream, I stepped deeper and deeper, until the waves parted before a strange hall with fifteen people dressed as Unspeakables… Attack them? Too dangerous… I'd kill one or two at most, it was far better to stay unnoticed..

Suddenly, another metaphorical rock slipping from under my foot made me lose my balance. I fell into the water, quickly sinking to the bottom. The water pull felt disorienting. I pushed away from the bottom, trying to reach the surface of the ocean of magic for a gasp of air and failing. It felt as if the ocean consciously wanted to kill me - however much I swam upwards, the water constantly rose to keep me just under the surface.

There had to be another way to get out of here… If up didn't work, try down. I dived to the bottom, searching for a spot that could be breached. There it was!I broke through a stone barrier and continued onward. It may not have been the right way, but at the moment it was my only one. There! Oh, for God's sake, not a dead end… They'd detect me if I kept at it… I looked for more weak spots in the stone to escape. Opening up one channel, second, third, fourth… The fifth one looked promising. Accelerating, I tumbled out of there and back to where I first slipped.

Now this spot felt motionless, though still thick with some subdued power. Let's see… I carefully aimed in the direction of the greatest pressure. But no, it wouldn't work. That place sat at the crossing of the streams, and reaching it would take passing them all. Well, if you must, you must…

More and more intersections… I felt like I got sucked into an invisible intricate web. The structure of the streams resembled a nervous system, with me running around inside it. I tried memorizing the layout… Physical pain was now amplified by pain in the energy channels. Time to hurry up. One more fork… No, impossible. Seeing endless branches connect into a single harmonious whole left me stunned with awe. What if I simplified the problem and ignored everything beyond a few turns ahead? Another fork ahead. Some loops, a spiral curling on itself… This was even worse.

I had to move forward, abandoning the idea of taking it turn by turn. The picture made no sense unless perceived as a whole. I felt like a rat in a maze… The web had spread to the bottom of the ocean, and that bottom itself was pressing me down. I continued following the central lines, approaching the goal. The pressure was gradually receding, why? One vector formed a path leading to our camp… From where?

"My Lord! Is everything all right?" asked someone, probably Edward.

"Don't interrupt," I heard my own voice from afar.

By my will, the surrounding web rolled into a ring and allowed me to exit it. Fans of psychedelic hallucinations would have died of envy. I reached through the ring towards the energy and felt the odd pressure stop affecting me.

Could it truly be the Ministry's magic source before me?

Accelerating the flow of magic within me to the limit, I hit the bottom and punched right through, creating a giant rift… And this new breach lead back where I started.

I removed the traces of my work and cut off the ritual. The fog condensed back into my body, and I barely had the time to re-apply my appearance illusions. Seemed like I've done it…

"Milord, what did you just do?" asked Rosier.

"I found the point of origin of the fluctuations and dampened them. The pressure will soon let up."

Curse Scrimgeour for letting them to use Dark Magic! No, I understood his reasoning, but it would have been so much better if they continued following their self-imposed arms limitation.

"We have around six hours before the enemy's ritual fully extinguishes. Once it does, they will begin checking the marked locations. You must return this place to a pristine slate and move everything out before then. I have created false signals all around England, but it wouldn't surprise me if they checked every one."

"My Lord, we'll barely make it in a week…"

"You have six hours."

The reason was probably not that they were lazy but that it was physically impossible. No, no point in cruciating anyone… If anything, they needed help moving and cleaning.

"I will personally take part," I said.

I wanted round up every single person I had here, but the Ministry's charms bearing down on us would detect a large number of moving wizards… And so I, already exhausted, got to work: levitating cargo, casting Astral Cacophony, drinking potions, and repeating. The cargo had to be both packed up and received on the other side, where more of my copies worked under concealment… This was no plain boxes anyone could handle but a multitude of sensitive instruments, basalt sacrificial altars, equipment for raising homunculi, the homunculi themselves, vials with unicorn blood carried by wizards under Imperius, a caged banshee, an aquarium with baby dragons…

We decided to sacrifice the prisoners to muddle our traces. All of them. The Carrows had work cut out for them.

We got done in five hours, which for me stretched into nearly three days. It would take advanced Dark magic to understand anything was once here. And the Ministry would never sacrifice dozens of wizards to test every suspicious signal I had created. Pandora's sight showed havoc: no way to tell whether this used to be a concentration camp or Nargle litter box. I could rest.

Back at home, I looked at myself in the mirror. The face that stared back belonged to an alcoholic after a week-long bender: pallid and puffy, eyes red from burst vessels. Diagnostics showed the beginnings of magical exhaustion and moderate potion overdose. But on the bright side, I got a chance to practice construction spells for their intended purpose of burying tunnels and changing the density of dirt… Too lazy to clean myself up, I ordered Gaby. That actually made me feel a bit better. The bed beckoned…

But before having a chance to step away from the mirror, I felt a panic-laden summons from Edward. I apparated to their house and found him kneeling over his son's unconscious body. House elves were running around in hysterics, wailing "Master Rodolphus is hurt!"

No, it couldn't be.. He'd never try killing himself… I persuaded him to let Bellatrix go for her own good, not ordered him to leave her… The vow? I haven't ordered him anything new…

Edward at last brought him back to consciousness. Tom had never seen any of the Lestranges drunk - as he shouldn't have when there were so many ways of curing alcohol intoxication. But now Rodolphus was clearly plastered off his face. One house elf started yammering about their master almost choking on his own vomit.

Soon all of their elves gathered around, and Edward cast a sobering spell with shaking hands.

"So, Rodolphus drank too much," I said. "What does it have to do with me? Pour a potion down his throat or let him sleep it off."

But even conscious and sober Rodolphus stayed unresponsive. Drawing on my extensive life experience, I immediately diagnosed him with post-Cruciatus shock.

"What happened here?" Edward questioned the house elves whilst connecting to the manor's monitoring charms that displayed records of events in a glowing orb.

I hit Rodolphus with legilimency. Unexpected…

"Mistress Bellatrix came home and says she did the Dark Lord's task," one elf squeaked. "Drunk Master Rodolphus said she can't have a baby and he's wanting to divorce her."

Rodolphus should've worded his thoughts better… Or maybe he said it deliberately, to spare her the guilt of leaving him? Regardless, he was not a hopeless case - successful legilimency meant the mind was still in one piece. Not a veggiewizard.

"And then Mistress Bellatrix used the Cruciatus on Master Rodolphus, and when she got bored she took Neville and left," the elf continued.

Rodolphus got off easy. Bella's Cruciatus was excellent, but she stopped short of frying his brains. He'd get over the pain shock. House protections? They both had equal level of access, lovers' quarrels were soon mended. However, if she attacked Edward… No matter, I'd just summon her right away and explain everything myself.

Edward looked at me like I was Merlin reincarnated.

"You didn't order him anything?" he asked.

"No, I convinced him. Give me your arm to call Bellatrix."

She should have apparated to the signal. But she didn't. Strange, the Mark indicated she was alive. And the vow wouldn't let her disobey… Although… I never ordered her anything in the true sense of the word - a hint sufficed. And since she had no orders to come when called, the vow let her ignore it. She must have known I was summoning her because of the incident and didn't want to see Rodolphus…

"Edward, send a house elf after Bellatrix. Have it relay my order to come here immediately."

"Heard that? Go!" Edward snapped at one of the elves.

"Master, I can't feel where she is. She covered up…"

Now what? I'd never believe in Bellatrix defecting to Dumbledore. But she could easily do something stupid. For instance, kill someone in the middle of a crowded street and get arrested… On second thought, she was unlikely to start a fight with a child at her side…

Where could she be?

"Gaby, check my house."

The house elf popped off and quickly returned.

"Nobody's there, Master."

"Edward, prepare a ritual to search by blood.".

"Mistress Bellatrix wrecked the Lestrange family head's office before she left," another house elf reported. "She burned the safe with Twilight Flame."

Edward exploded in a stream of profanity. Aside from storing blood samples, he used that safe for expensive instruments, documents and original land deeds.

So in other words, my trusted person, the keeper of my Fidelius, ran off in unknown direction with a child of my enemies? A child who was officially dead and allegedly fit a certain prophecy? Was this a magical terrorist group or a fantasy soap opera?!

No need to panic. Just think. Think and hope that no was searching for Neville this very moment, because his protections against blood detection were stationary… Set over Lestrange's manor…

All right, if I were a scorned woman with a child, where would I go? My home. Homes of my relatives. Friends. Acquaintances. Lovers. Excellent. Now, how much did that apply to Bellatrix? Let's assume it did.

She had no lover, I had checked with legilimency. She was unlikely to find one quickly or go to a brothel. This scandal should have put her off sex.

Friends and acquaintances? Edward had already sent house elves to check other Death Eaters' homes. Nothing.

Relatives? Sirius and Andromeda lived in our dungeons. Mother… The house elf posted near the Blacks' family home saw neither the house nor Bellatrix. She had no access, and the house was so warded not even charm traces registered.

Narcissa remained the only option. Of course, it was unbecoming of the Dark Lord to personally search for Bellatrix, but she wouldn't listen to anyone else. She had undoubtedly winded herself up enough to attack Elena. Considering my state, she could win…

Within minutes, I barged into Malfoy's home.

"My Lord, to what do I owe the pleasure?" asked my slippery friend.

Well, you see, I'm here for your wife. No, that was the wrong thing to say, and I had no time to break into his mind. Order him to let me in? Then I couldn't miss his contingency plans for getting off scot-free, which deserved a long Cruciatus session. But first of all, damned necroenergy. Second, wasting precious time. Don't punish him? He'd assume the Lord has either gone soft or was bad at legilimency…

"Lucius, Bellatrix suffered a rebound from an experimental ritual. She is not in her right mind and is wandering around somewhere. Have you seen her? I think she may have gone to her sister."

It was not hard to imagine the horror that gripped him: Bellatrix not in her right mind…

"My Lord, we must go to Narcissa right away! She is staying in our house in France," he exclaimed and started setting the fireplace.

"Is your wife not living with you?"

"We had a fight.. several fights…" Malfoy paused to send in the floo password. No "pure blood forever," only a long, meaningless combination of symbols in different languages. "First she took our son to France, saying I ordered her to do it… Then she noticed a large sum of money missing from our accounts… And many new spells on the manor… Not long after, she walked in on me changing my handwriting to correspond with Skeeter and didn't believe it was business. In her words, no journalists are worth bribing that much… Then a house elf told her I've been meeting with Elena under privacy charms. It was strictly business talks about removing the curse! I've also been staying late at work and drinking with Severus more often… She exploded and left again."

The Black blood clearly showed. He should be grateful he didn't get cruciated.

I changed my face with another illusion and followed Malfoy into the fireplace. A moment later, we stepped out in his home in France. I discreetly recorded the coordinates with a wandless spell.

"Narcissa! I missed you both and stopped by to see you! I'm here with my business partner!" Malfoy shouted into empty air.

Narcissa technically knew her husband was a Death Eater, but Lucius did his best to protect her from any more details.

My charms detected four people, and I walked in their direction. Malfoy followed behind, probably in case Bellatrix was feeling violent. After a bit of thinking, I took out Longbottom's old wand and started casting cleansing spells. Bella was smart enough to recognize me by the wand without altering her sister.

We entered a sitting room. My worst fears didn't come to pass. Narcissa and Bellatrix were peacefully drinking tea, deep in conversation. Draco and Neville were playing nearby.

Draco immediately ran to his father. Neville continued fiddling with a toy. Some kind of dynamic facial illusion was making him impossible to identify as a Longbottom.

Narcissa prattled on, diligently pretending not to notice her husband. Bella's eyes quickly zeroed in on my wand - she recognized it.

"Narcissa, it's such a delightful day in England today," Lucius began. His wife pointedly ignored him. He tried to approach through the child: "Draco, how would you like to go shopping for your own broom? You can pick any model you want, even a grown-up one - but you must wait to fly on it until you are older."

The boy got instantly fired up with the idea and started bidding his mother to come with them.

"Mrs. Lestrange," Lucius addressed Bellatrix, whose lip curled at the sound of the name. "It is wonderful to see you. This is Mr. Raywood, my business associate from America. He wishes to discuss something with you."

Narcissa looked unsure of the situation. First her sister comes in with a toddler and says she is divorcing… But seeing Bellatrix's pithy nod, she decided to leave it be.

When the Malfoys walked out, Bellatrix hit the boy with a sleeping charm. I put up privacy charms and removed my appearance illusions.

"My Lord," she bowed. "You wished to see me?"

I found you at last. And today, I wanted more than just see.

"Take Neville and go to my house."

Leaving here was much easier than arriving, and we were shortly back home. I put the boy into a conjured crib and left the house elf to stand watch.

"My Lord, I won't go back to him!" she announced as soon as we were alone.

Music to my ears! Say it again…

And now to portray a quality Romeo.

"Bella… It has always been my life's dream to build a better magical world. A long time ago, we separated because of my foolishness. I made a mistake. I've put my duty to the true wizards above my feelings. I was convinced that love would only be a weakness on my journey. But today… I lost you for some time. When I couldn't find you, I forgot about everything and rushed to search for you. It opened my eyes to the truth: I want you to always be with me."

"I'm your most faithful servant.." she began. She was obviously missing the message - the Lord had been completely asexual in the past years.

"I am happy you left Rodolphus," I simplified it. "Be my woman!"

"My Lord… You are incredibly generous, but I need no pity."

She probably thought that Rodolphus had found a replacement and wanted to kick her out. And that I was saving her out of pity… What twisted paths did her logic follow? I should have bypassed her mind protections first, then talked to her without guessing…

"Bella, I realized I loved you all these years. I can't live without you a moment longer. Be with me. Forever and always."

I had no time for courtships.

"My Lord… it's all so sudden… I agree!"

Wonderful. Now was a good time to get into her head to make sure I didn't misinterpret anything… But ordering to bare her mind would be as rude as ordering her to strip. How to distract her…

"Gaby! Serve us dinner!"

We sat down at the dining table. I started dispelling and rolling down my protective charms, Bellatrix got busy with the same.

"Bella, you've grown even more beautiful. Your lips are like coral," I gushed, recalling what was customary to say in these circumstances. The principal rule stated that if you want the same old from a woman, you must tell her she is different from everyone else. I should have really complimented her eyes, but wizards often interpreted any mention of the eyes as a hint at legilimency. Better not.

After ten minutes of romantic dinner and spilling cascades of compliments, I managed to covertly check her mind.

"Will this filthy elf bring the last dish already, I'm all wet here, " she thought.

My mistake. I used standard advances for an average woman, but she was already in love… How fortunate that I had no compunctions against sex on the first date.

"I think I've had enough,' I said. "I want to show you the house."

"I'd love that, my Lord."

Start with the bedroom…

"We had a lovely time, Bella," I said as we walked into the bedroom, "but I wish for more intimacy in our relationship."

"I missed your touch for so long, my Lord. Please, help me out of this uncomfortable robe."

She was fetching. Tall and shapely, with voluptuous breasts. Her hips were fairly narrow, but the round and perky butt more than made up for it.

I followed Riddle's example, using legilimency to anticipate what she wanted and when… Everything went smoothly, until his memories once again did me a sorry service. He had never particularly enjoyed sex. I, on the other hand, got too lost in the moment and sunk too deeply into her mind. She never noticed, but I glimpsed not only her thoughts but also her sensations. All of them. The odd feeling of thrusting into myself stopped me cold.

"Is something wrong? You don't like me?" she asked.

I did, very much. But I'd never use legilimency in the bedroom again. Or cover her in mind-protecting amulets? Cover my head with a blanket and close my eyes? And how to explain it to her? An anti-legilimency amulet highlights the lushness of your breasts? And I cover my face because I'm shy? We, Dark Lords, have high moral principles, you know: mass murder is daily routine, ripping people's souls and imprisoning them in objects to burn them later is a breeze, but intimacy embarrasses me?

….Why was I wasting time on this nonsense? She had decent occlumency, all it took was leaving her mind and staying out.

"You are magnificent. I was just thinking about work. The Ministry almost broke into Rosier's concentration camp with Dark magic today…" Because who was always at fault? For Tom, it was muggles. For me - the Ministry and Albus. Even when it came to erection problems.

"What? Why haven't I heard anything?"

"You were busy negotiating with mercenaries, it was no reason to distract you. I countered their search ritual and helped evacuate everything with the Time-Turner… Moved literal tons of dirt to hide the destroyed buildings and tunnels…"

"How many time streams did you divide into?"

"Fifteen."

"Master, you need to rest. Let me reward you."

I got no chance to reply - so wonderful when a woman knows how to use her head.

Everything seemed fine this time around, but then problems came from a different direction. My fears. What if Edward, Rodolphus and Bellatrix gathered together, discussed what I told them and realized their versions didn't match?

No. They wouldn't… And even if they did, they would never believe each other. Or be convinced that the Lord told the truth to them personally and lied to the other two… But I better take precautions…

Needless to say, I again lost the mood.

"Master, are you all right?" Bellatrix asked, casting a wandless diagnostic charm at me. "You have sleep deprivation and mild magical exhaustion."

She was perfect. None of that "why aren't we holding hands" or "there is no you and I, only us."

And then it hit me: I missed someone's spell! I was defenseless next to a powerful witch! I could have been killed this very moment! Bellatrix was skilled in wandless magic, and I've never seen anyone avoid a point-blank Cruciatus… Poor wizards. Sleep with someone weak - break through their occlumency and lose the mood. Sleep with someone strong - worry about being killed with a wandless spell and lose the mood. The best solution was muggles with mind-protecting amulets…

"Master, you're so tense. Forget about everything for a moment and let me give you a massage."

I tried to banish all the unnecessary thoughts out of my mind. Closed my eyes to be certain. It seemed to work… Bellatrix kept on mumbling something about "master" and "my Lord." She never called me Tom. And I couldn't shake off the feeling I was Barty Crouch at a brothel…

Honestly, I always wondered why wizards didn't use magic during sex. But now, having been burnt by legilimency, I understood: sex meant no shields, and losing concentration was a ticket to the healers. For example, if I fingered her with telekinesis and slipped, she'd be in a world of pain… And that's considering my level of control… Or maybe I just haven't been with a woman for far too long…

In an hour, I felt utterly spent. But she looked fresh. How?! Magic? The power of love? I'd look into it later.

"Bella, I had a wonderful time with you. Unfortunately, I can't satisfy you right now."

"Should I… leave?"

Love was easy to portray, but a hard-on didn't lie. While magic could help, this was not the time or place to try anything new, especially on myself.

"Of course not. I happen to have some leftover Lust's Folly I brewed for Black. Do you mind?"

"Not at all," she said with a grin.

"If it becomes too much for you, give me an antidote or stun me." I had a decent idea of how this potion worked. Talking to me would be pointless.

"It won't, my Lord."

I'd never give it to her because then I would definitely die, torn apart more thoroughly than by any horcrux. My headstone would read: "shagged to death by a desperate servant." Albus would declare that love always wins in the end. Rodolphus would weep over my grave, saying that he should have been in my place. And Barty would say that if he were near, he would have sacrificed himself to save me.

But jokes aside, one of us had to be in a rational state of mind in case of emergency. With these thoughts, I drank every bit of the Lust's Folly. Almost every other love potion was water compared to it.

It reminded me of alcohol, only infinitely stronger. The very first sip changed something. I felt like a catholic priest who has never fornicated or even pleasured himself. But after decades of that life, he completely snapped and went to rape children. I got struck with an unbearable urge to fuck. No matter who: Bella, Lily, Snape, a house elf, a pillow. "Lust's Folly," indeed. The brain shut off, able to follow only one command: go to the nearest object and hump it. And the ability completely matched the desire. Luckily for me, the nearest object was Bellatrix.

I probably could have canceled the potion's effects somehow: reached for the antidote, cast some spell. But it left not the tiniest scrap of motivation. I couldn't even articulate any thoughts, only go through the motions like a pilot pumped full of drugs to the point of frothing at the mouth. I saw, felt and comprehended everything, but control of the body was lost.

I enjoyed the process. Bellatrix did too, though, in my view, it was rough. She cast something on herself a couple of times, probably for strength to continue. The things she did! It was as if she took the same potion… Did it wound my pride? A little. But it made no sense to compare us. I was just a man who wanted sex. She was a woman whose life-long dream came true. It was akin to reviving a dead man before his devastated widow.

In eight hours, the potion's effects finally dissipated. Bellatrix looked like a cat overdosed on catnip. I didn't think we'd have any problems with compatibility. With my Time-Turner use, her once a day would be once every three days for me… After spending a night in bed, I realized that if it weren't for my foolish procrastination, I could've had half a year worth of these pleasant memories. I didn't feel like a legendary lover - Bella could orgasm from my touching her elbow, and it was no personal accomplishment.

I could have ended it right there and returned when I wanted more. But I did need her love.

"Bella, let me give you a tour of my home."

And I showed her.

"Here is my safe. It contains very valuable items. Do not break it. And no Twilight Flame! This is my potions lab. Here I'm brewing a poison for Dumbledore. Do not cross this layered ward line… This is my workshop. Here I work on crafting a wand worthy of my greatness."

Except so far nothing but Albus's wand replicas came out. Here, let me give you one in case you ever decide to impersonate him. Only they don't work, so you must cast everything wandlessly… I could open a business. Elder Wands by Voldemort, handcrafted with tender care. Elder tree wood, exact appearance of Albus's wand, core varied. Not designed to perform magic… I should probably give Bella a piece of jewelry as a token of affection…

"… This here is a copy of Salazar's wand that holds the memory every spell he cast with it. I am trying to look through them all… This is my familiar. Say hello, Nagini ."

" Hello," Nagini hissed back.

"My Lord, what is it?" Bella gaped.

"My familiar. An experiment. Part snake, part Phoenix. Don't be afraid, she obeys me."

"You're the greatest wizard alive!" she exclaimed and began kissing me.

It was flattering, of course. But not very likely. Not until I kill Dumbledore. It was unfair to compare us considering his vastly different set of skills, but I still ran from him… Flamel's abilities were a mystery, the age of seven centuries scared me. I could only pray he didn't use a Time-Turner to train…

Wait, how did she kiss me? Why was I walking around without shields? Better fix it…

"Bella, how do you see our future?"

"Amazing, my Lord."

"You are the secret keeper of my house, you can't stay here for long."

"So what is your order?"

"I'll tell Edward to give you the guest wing."

"I don't think I'll be welcome there. I left rather loudly. Can I stay with Narcissa?"

Not a bad idea. The Malfoys has plenty of room. Out of sight, out of mind. She'd forget her past faster and have less chances of running into Elena… Pity I couldn't hide her under another Fidelius without destabilizing my own…

"Is that what you wish?"

"Yes, my Lord."

I suddenly remembered Malfoy's thoughts.

"No, we will go to the Lestranges. I don't trust Lucius. Do you need anything?"

"Only to pick up Neville."

The boy was a big downside… Re-gift him to someone else or what? But on the other hand, it wasn't as if I had to interact with him. Let him be Bella's problem, her practice before caring for her own child. I'd visit Bella for sex and give the boy toys by the truckload. If he asks for anything, I'm busy. Forever. Just send the house elf to buy some toys…

Before long, I was already moving Bella to her new rooms and putting up wards. Upon some thought, I transfigured copies of the toys I saw Neville and Draco play - not much of an effort on my part, and it made Bella happy.

A woman living in her estranged husband's house was not very gracious, but I never cared for conventions. I was far more concerned with my child. Should I tell her I want one? Why talk? Get straight to work and tell her to assist. At last, Barty's findings would come of use… I'd tell her later, or she might have a heart attack from happiness.

Bellatrix woke Neville and started playing with him: teaching him basic wand movements with an inert piece of wood.

"Look, my Lord, he is doing it!" she said.

In my opinion, the boy was much better at chewing the toy wand than waving it… And he called Bellatrix "mum." She better make sure he doesn't start calling me dad. I hugged her, and hands slipped below her back on their own accord… No, I didn't want sex, but touching her felt nice. Thoughts whirled chaotically. How much could Bellatrix earn if she published her memoirs? "And then You-Know-Who stuck you-know-what you-know-where…"

At that moment, I once again felt multiple urgent summonses…

"Dear, I'm being called," I said, twisting out of her embrace.

"Can I come with you, my Lord?" she asked hopefully.

"I'll find out what is happening and call on you if I need you," I promised, leaving now my Bellatrix.

Rufus Scrimgeour

Scrimgeour paced around his Minister's office like a caged lion, brooding over whether he had made the right choice. This defensive war was leading nowhere. They had to take out You-Know-Who as quickly as possible, and Rufus did not believe it could be done with clean hands. He'd never stoop to groundless arrests or torture, but some of his methods still put the Ministry at odds with Albus Dumbledore.

He had recently issued an executive order to the Department of Mysteries, authorizing them to use blood magic to locate You-Know-Who's concentration camp. The problem lay in hiding the Ministry's use of Dark magic from the public. His salvation came in the form of Albus Dumbledore, who demanded a full blockade of London after seeing a "Tlahuilopochtli" in a crystal ball. He readily indulged Albus - fully activated wards would conceal the Unspeakables' ritual. This was their chance to deal a decisive blow to the Death Eaters and save an untold number of lives.

No, they hadn't killed anyone for it. Fifteen Unspeakables stood in convoluted drawings, cut themselves and chanted some gibberish. In theory, it should have dispersed the enemy's wards and revealed the location of their camp. But it didn't work. Rufus privately doubted the ritual did anything at all.

"Get the Head of the Department of Mysteries to me," he ordered through his communication artifact.

Within seconds, before him appeared someone in a mask and a heavy cloak. This person's name was secret even to the Minister. He didn't know their age, gender or race… Only that they had unrestricted access to any knowledge at the price of being a lifelong prisoner of the Department of Mysteries with no personal power, freedom or identity.

"Are you certain the ritual worked?"

"The ritual was a success. We held off the enemy's counterattack. A total of five people, one of them the Dark Lord. We do not know whether they suffered any losses."

"Do you have anything to add to your report?" asked Rufus, waving at the stack of paper in front of him. It might as well be reduced to two words: no result. The supposed "potential locations of mass human sacrifice" were three hundred circles all over the map of Britain, each four hundred meters to ten kilometers in diameter.

"No, Mister Minister. Have you studied the briefing packet for the new Minister of Magic?"

"Yes." Scrimgeour winced. His career had led him to the very top of the DMLE. But when he got the Minister's chair, he learned about the existence of three more clearance levels. It was… unsettling.

"Then you must understand the danger of using Dark magic."

Why hoard all that knowledge if not to use it?

"Can you offer any help at all?" he asked.

"My advice is to focus on the Tlahuilopochtli. I wouldn't spare Dark magic on that creature."

"You believe it may be real? Nobody's seen one for over a thousand years, if they existed at all. How could one end up in London, of all places?"

"Albus Dumbledore claims it was created by the Dark Lord."

"If You-Know-Who possessed such power, he would've been using it himself."

"As you say, Mister Minister."

"We are storming the Acromantula nest in an hour. Does the Department of Mysteries have any means to prevent losses on our side?"

"It does. But if Albus Dumbledore participates in the assault, he will not accept our methods."

At first glance, the choice was obvious. But today their "powerful magic" had proven useless. It was worth trying to side with Albus and comparing the results.

Personally, he held very little faith in a joint operation of the Auror Department and the Order of the Phoenix. The unclear chain of command was bound to cause problems. And Albus himself didn't shine during the last battle… Getting old? A little too early… Though, no one knew what Grindelwald had done to him in that duel… But if Albus at least temporarily neutralized You-Know-Who, they'd stand a chance to avoid casualties.

"We'll keep the Tlahuilopochtli contained while you fight," the Head Unspeakable assured.

Augusta Longbottom

Augusta was angry. Extremely angry. Angry at herself for being so powerless. But she saw no other choice.

"Augusta, I'm happy to see you," Albus greeted.

The deaths of her children devastated her. Albus said he found their remains that had been turned into undead in France. But her grandson still lived. She just knew it in her heart, no matter what every stupid ritual she performed suggested.

Someone anonymously reported her to the law enforcement. Mother of a distinguished Auror practicing blood magic… She was facing two years in Azkaban, but Albus Dumbledore reduced it to two months in St. Mungo's mental ward: "the woman lost her mind from grief, she is not responsible for her actions." She recently got released.

"Albus, look - Neville is alive! He's in France!"

Albus Dumbledore let out a weary sigh.

"Augusta, stop and think about what you are doing. Do you want to go to Azkaban? These are obviously today's results. Blood magic is illegal, and it is my direct responsibility to curtail it! Yet here you are coming to me with new evidence of your guilt! This is nothing but disinformation, an attempt to torture you with false hope or smear the reputation of a war hero's mother."

"My grandson is there!"

"It hurts me to say this, but Voldemort kills everyone in his path. Your grandson is dead. In honor of your children's memory, I'll close my eyes to your crimes one last time."

There were no wand movements, no words, no hand gestures. The parchment with ritual results simply burst into flames.

"Goodbye, Augusta. If you have any legal business with me, you are welcome to return."

"Goodbye, Professor." The woman got up and walked out the door, biting back the tears.

Albus Dumbledore

Albus was again alone in his office. The poor woman… He dearly hoped she wouldn't do anything foolish.

He pulled out his Elder Wand. A slight push of willpower, a spark of energy - and the scattered ashes gathered back into the parchment with ritual results. How unfortunate that he was forced to be so rude to Augusta…

Albus examined the parchment. A ritual by this and that scheme, using Augusta's blood… And there was the result: a Holland-sized area of France. No, it almost certainly was disinformation. But when matter concerned Voldemort, not even the wildest possibilities should be discarded without checking.

Why did everything have to be this complicated… He'd think about it later, after giving all their soldiers one final look-over. While their parallel selves fought Acromantulas, he and Alasor went to stand in the lockdown perimeter. The creature declined his offer to surrender. Pity. It could have thrived in a preserve. The world had plenty of magic and non-sentient creatures to sustain it.

The Unspeakables wanted to capture it alive, the Minister didn't believe in its existence, Voldemort was ignoring a clairvoyant, magic-manipulating creature with inherited memories… Did Tom not understand what he had lost? Or was it his plan to let out Tlahuilopochtli and wait for everyone to fight over it? The neighboring countries already began stirring with problem had be resolved quickly: the sheer value of this creature could spark a war over the right to possess it… Though, what war? It was no longer the Middle Ages. At most, they'd see an influx of foreign Aurors and mercenaries running around… As if they accidentally got lost during a drill - Confundus, a defective portkey or whatnot… Albus made a mental note to prepare a speech for the ICW, preemptively warning of zero tolerance for foreign interference in British internal affairs.

Lucius Malfoy

Lucius was frantically trying to make sense of today's events. Why were they in a state of emergency? Why was the Dark Lord chasing after Bellatrix? Where did Bellatrix get a child? Narcissa stayed stubbornly tight-lipped on the subject of her sister…

He wanted to visit Edward Lestrange to find out what happened, but the man refused him. As he glimpsed from their house elf's thoughts, Edward was tending to Rodolphus's recovery from Cruciatus…

Then it dawned on him: Bellatrix had a child from the Lord!

The mere thought sent Lucius into a fit of anxiety. Some things were just not meant to be known. He almost rushed to erase the memories but decided enough was enough. He didn't need to wake up next to his wife and ask why she was not in France. Everything barely started to mend between them…

"Something wrong?" Narcissa muttered. His tossing and turning must have woken her.

"Sleep, love. Everything is fine."