Chapter 53
The Dark Lord moved through the ruins of the Malfoy mansion as rage tore through his entire being. This was but one of the two major sites that had been hit, though he cared little for the loss of those subhuman creatures. Fenrir and his pack were useful tools, but in the end, they were just that.
Tools.
Their deaths did not matter. Not at all, but the attack on Lucius was another matter. This was a challenge to him. A retribution, and if the writing on the wall was anything to go by, they were just getting started.
"I am coming for you, Riddle!" and Voldemort gave a guttural roar, as he slashed his wand and destroyed the entire wall.
"AGHHHH!" and his rage shook the entire castle.
BOOOOM!
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ALDER EVANS
By now, Voldemort would have received his message. Last night had been the first time he had deliberately taken a life, and yet he felt little remorse over his actions. Lucius and his family had made their bed. They had killed dozens of muggles as sport, and what he had done had been nothing but retribution.
The second attack had been carried out against Voldemort's mad dog, the infamous Fenrir Greyback. The werewolf had become a staunch ally to the Dark Lord and had begun to gather an army for the man, and while the Death Eaters were trouble enough on their own, the prospect of an army full of marginalised creatures would have made things impossible for the Ministry.
With Voldemort's strength growing by the day, many flocked to his side just to satisfy their inner monsters, while others thought to ally themselves with a rising power. The attack last night dissolved both those notions.
Now the world was reminded of the fact once more that joining hands with the devil came at a cost. And that cost was your own life.
By some fortune, he was able to find Riddle's diary in the manor, which reminded him of the other Horcruxes. He had hoped that Dumbledore would be able to recover them, but the Headmaster was out of the country now, and he could not just leave Tom's diary once he had found it.
But sooner or later, he just might figure out that someone knew of his Horcruxes, and if that were to happen, he just might come to change their locations. He had to get them before Voldemort was to do such a thing.
Finding out the Gaunt Family's last living address had not been difficult. The family had had quite a few troubles with the law over the years, and a quick sift through the files had led him to the daunting Gaunt Shack.
The place oozed evil and had quite a few wards layered over it. Alder once more transformed into a bird and slid in through a window as he came upon the lounge and turned back into his human form.
The wood creaked under his steps, and the House had long been ransacked, and all that remained was a rotting chair and the smell of death itself.
He could feel Voldemort's presence, and his heart hammered in his chest as he cast a simple search spell and found the place where he had left it hidden.
He pulled away a piece of the floor to reveal a little blue box, and immediately the whispers began to fill his ears.
"Come," they said.
"Open it, Open it," and this was a compulsion charm. A very strong compulsion charm, but he had been prepared for it, as he drowned the potion he had brought. Voldemort was stronger than him, and his magic was obviously years ahead of his own, but with enough resources and preparations, Alder could make up for that difference.
He had researched a bit and found a potion that could protect one's mind against compulsion charms. It was an expensive little thing, but one that quietened the whispers as he walked towards the blue box once more.
"Open! Open it," the whispers still came, but his mind remained clear as he refused to succumb to them, and he pushed open the box to reveal the Horcrux. It was a golden ring with a black stone set into its centre.
"OPEN IT! OPEN IT!" and the voices grew stronger now, and it took the combined powers of his occlumency and the 'Steadily Potion' to keep himself away as he took out a box, and slowly placed the ring into it with a charm.
The box was meant to control the compulsion charm until he had the means to destroy it. He already had a plan regarding that, but as he flew out of the shack, he glanced back at the shack and sighed.
"Let's hope Arcturus can find the poison," and with that, he glanced at the watch.
"I need to hurry, or I might be late for the press conference...."
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LILY EVANS
Christmas had come, and the school had gotten even emptier than before. Most of her classmates had left the school to spend the holidays at home, but for the first time ever, Lily found herself lacking a home to go back to.
Her parents were in Australia, and her brother was gone. Roped up with the Ministry in his quest for revenge. He had written to her a few times, but in the end, Lily could not forgive him for the choices that he had made.
She understood his pain. Understood it, but she cared for him more than she cared for his pain. Unlike the rest, she knew what this war entailed. What revenge entailed.
She did not wish to lose her brother to this war. She did not wish to lose him to this revenge.
She just wanted him back, so that they could be together once more as they always had been. The mere thought that she could lose him to this undaunted quest for revenge pained her greatly.
Every day, she woke with the fear that the Prophet might carry news of his demise. Every time someone knocked at her door, she feared the worst.
And now the war had begun. Though the Prophet had no mention of the person responsible for the attack on the Malfoys and Greyback, Lily knew in her heart that this was her brother's doing and that there was no turning back for him now.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
Suddenly, there was a knock on her door, and she frowned as her heart began to beat away in her chest.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"It's me, James," and this year she had found a new side to the usually jolly and non-serious James Potter. He had always seemed so carefree, and yet this year, as she felt herself falling apart, he had become a rock by her side.
"Come in," she said, and she glanced at the clock and noticed that she hadn't left the room all day, as James came in with a tray in his hand, and her stomach growled at the sight of food, making her flush.
"Huh, well now you can't lie and tell me you aren't hungry," he said with that roguish smile of his, as she straightened up, and she was still in her pajamas, but that did not matter much. James had seen her far less than that as he came and put down the tray on her bed.
"You skipped both lunch and dinner. I asked your friends, but they said that you didn't want to come down, so I decided to bring the food to you," and so he had robbed the kitchens again, but she did not chide him for his actions.
Not when he had chosen to stay back only for her.
"Thank you," and she did not have the energy to argue, as James removed the lids, and there were a few sandwiches and some roast from the dinner.
"Eat now, or do you want me to feed you with my hands princess," and she rolled her eyes.
"I can eat on my own," and she picked up a sandwich and bit into it, and looked up at him.
"I am sorry that you had to do this," she said, and this was not the first time he had been forced into doing this.
"Doing what? You know I love watching you in your pajamas," he said, wiggling his brows as she threw her pillow at him.
"Shut up!" she roared, and James laughed.
"You get really cranky when you are hungry," and the words made her halt, as she was reminded of another person who would often say the same thing.
"What?" and James noticed the shift in her mood.
"I did not mean it like that. I love it when you are cranky,..."
"I know," she whispered, and gave him a smile.
"It's just that Alder used to say the same thing to me," and whenever she and Petunia would fight, Alder would make her some snacks, and then he would bring them to her on behalf of Petunia.
"Oh," James realised.
"You should write back to him," James added, as her head snapped up.
"I will never..."
"You love him," James added.
"And I am certain that he loves you too," and she knew that.
"Then why did he leave!" she nearly shouted.
"WHY?" and James's lips thinned.
"Because he had to," James whispered back, and he had never brought up Alder before.
"No, he did not! He left me because he is a selfish bastard!" she shouted at him, as James sighed.
"Alder is many things, but he is not selfish," James defended him, as she bit her lip.
"He is not just doing this for himself. He is doing for all of us, because he knows that if someone does not fight back now, then sooner or later there wouldn't be anything left to fight for," and she wanted to deny his words, and yet she could not.
"He is fighting for our future. He is putting his life on the line for you, for all of us, because he knows that if Voldemort succeeds, then all of us may one day have to suffer the same pain as him," and she was reminded once more of the reason she had accepted his advances in the first for underneath all that pomp and joy, hid a boy with a kind heart.
"I don't want him to die," and her eyes became heavy as she uttered those words.
"I know," James said as he slid close to her and wrapped an arm around her.
"I want him to live a long life too," James added as she put her head on his shoulder.
"But you have to understand, Lily, that he is fighting a war, and he is doing so from the front lines," and in a day or two, the Ministry was going to hold a press conference to reveal information about the death of Malfoy and Greyback.
She believed that they would be revealing her brother's role in it all as well.
"He may never ask for it, but he needs you just as you need him," and now he looked down at her.
"You don't understand," and he nodded.
"I know that I don't," he said with a small smile.
"I have never had a brother or a loved one go to a war, but I know someone else who did," and with that, he reached into his pocket and took out a letter.
"Years ago, when Grindelwald was at large, my uncle Charlus left the country to fight him. Back then, he was seeing my aunt Dorea," and she had met them during the wedding some months back, and now it all seemed so long ago.
Life had been so much simpler then, and her greatest worry back then had been introducing herself to his family.
"I don't really know what you are going through, so I wrote to her for some advice," and that was both embarrassing and caring at the same time, as James gulped nervously.
"First, she called me a moron," and he chuckled at that.
"And then she asked me to give you this," and she read her name on the letter.
"She said that it would help," and until now, Lily had no one to share her worries with. She had no one to turn to for advice, for no one amongst her friends had ever faced something like this.
But Dorea Potter had.
So, she opened the letter as James slid back and began to skim over it, and it was rather long, and she found her heart aching as she finished reading the letter, and she didn't say anything for a few minutes afterwards as she processed all that she had read.
"James," she whispered his name, and through all this, he had simply sat there holding her hand.
"Yes," he answered.
"I want to see him," she accepted the somber truth.
"I want to see my brother," and James nodded with a smile.
"I will make the arrangements..."
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Miles away in the dark alleys of Knockturn Alley, a shadowy figure slid into the damp shop of Burgin and Burkes. The shopkeeper smiled at the stranger, caring not for the cloak they wore, as he offered them his usual services.
"How can I help you today?" he asked, and the man came to the counter and raised his face, startling the man.
"Lord Black," he gasped, as Arcturus Black nodded.
"Aye," and the man tossed a rather large pouch on the counter, making the shopkeeper raise a brow as he loosened the strings, to gaze at the galleons glistening in it.
"I need you to procure something for me," the Black Lord ordered, and with an advance like that, Burke was happy to oblige.
"Of course, my lord. Say the word, and it shall be yours," he offered with a smile.
"I am afraid it won't be as easy as you think," but Burke was confident.
"So be it, but there are very few things that cannot be obtained with money," he countered.
"Even Basilisk Venom..."
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