The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 07 March 2010

Chapter 83 Fighting a War

The next day found Harry and all the others in the ‘war council’ planning again. This time they had to split up in teams to cover the many attacks from the Death Eaters. Hopefully they could stave off several if they caught enough of the Voldemort sycophants before the other attacks happened. Every Death Eater they caught meant that was one less Death Eater that could be sent to the next scheduled attack. It was more imperative than ever that they find out how many followers Voldemort really had.

The problem was no one knew exactly how many Voldemort followers there really were. He never had a meeting with all of them there, or if he did, it was a recruitment meeting and several that were there were not real followers. They knew he had several that did not even have the dark mark, such as Fenrir Greyback and his pack. The one pack of werewolves that they knew hadn’t taken the werewolves’ cure or joined the werewolf’s program for rehabilitation.

The newspapers depicted ten different attacks in six days, but the ‘war council’ knew there may have been more. Four of the attacks in the newspaper were of Order members and they knew they were probably targeted because of the missing Death Eaters. It was time to make a statement.

It was also time to go after the remaining horcrux that was still in the old Gaunt shack. Salazar, Severus and Harry were going to go after the remaining horcrux except Nagini. She was the only one that was not hidden and remained by Voldemort’s side. In order to not alert him that someone had found them, she would have to wait until the last possible minute.

They left that very afternoon to destroy the ring. It was easy to get into the shack. The wards were very weak as if they hadn’t been maintained in a while. It was almost as if Voldemort had put the ring there as a teenager and, erected some half-way wards and left to forget about the place. They destroyed the ring and put it back in case someone came to look for it. The only difference was it didn’t have the soul fragment in it. Not a very exciting mission, but a very successful one.

When they got back to the manor, five more papers rested on the table. Harry was beginning to hate the dining room, The Daily Prophet and Voldemort all at the same time. At least the papers were dated two to three weeks in advance so they had time to prepare.

They were getting closer to the time that Voldemort would increase his attacks. In all the time lines, he started attacking in earnest about four or five months prior to the date he killed the Potters. Harry and Severus had been hoping to catch enough of the mad man’s followers to stop, or at least slow down, his violence. But now it seemed as if he was just getting started earlier. Severus assured Harry that since most of the aggressions so far had been small and it was in accordance with the other time lines.

Their collection of Death Eaters was slowly rising. Every time they stopped whatever mission Voldemort sent them on another two or three were added to the list. They were now up to forty-five. Some of them had ended up dead in the crossfire, but most of them they were able to catch with only minor injuries.

It was interesting to watch during the interrogations. The Death Eaters were suspicious of being treated well during their stay. They were fed and given medical treatment for injuries, even the ones that they created. One day a fight broke out in the truck with Rabastian Lestrange and they fixed two broken noses and a broken arm before separating the three injured into a separate trunk. Needless to say, after that, they didn’t want to be Death Eaters anymore.

One day when Doc was inside one of the prison trunks, the inmates decided to try to escape. They held the healer prisoner while stealing his wand and demanded to be let out of the “whatever it is that has confined us”. Doc laughed at him.

“Do you honestly believe that we are not prepared for something like this? The only thing that will happen is you will no longer get medical care for your stupidity.” Doc said while sitting in a chair with a wand pointing at him. He didn’t look scared or frightened either and the men wondered why.

“Stupify,” the Death Eater said while pointing the wand at Doc’s face. Nothing happened. “Reducto,” again nothing happened. “Sectemsempra,” still nothing happened.

Doc got up out of his chair and grabbed his wand back. “You men are even more foolish that I took you for and that is saying something.” He walked to the middle of the room and looked around.

“Your magic is neutralized in this container, but you also have had to suffer several summonses on a daily basis from you Master. Your magic is being depleted and that is why you have been getting sick. It’s all tied in with the dark mark. No one in these containers with a dark mark can use any magic. It’s time for you to grow up boys and face reality.” After saying that and seeing their expressions of perplexion and in some cases horror, Doc raised his wand and said “Exedos” and left the confinement box.

Two of the men in confinement decided to have the mark removed when they realized the torture from their Master would never end. They had read the books available in their living quarters and some of the other books backing up what the first book said. Whether it was conditional training or not, they didn’t know, nor did they care, they just wanted out. The whole idea of living the rest of their lives like this or worse, in Azkaban or just dying a painful death when their Master did, just was not appealing.

It was in the other confinement area that their retraining began. The founders’ portraits were the wardens and the elves the guards. They were all given the same speech when coming into the neutral confinement area.

“Gentlemen, you have been given another chance at life.” Regulus was lecturing one day to some newly ‘freed’ Death Eaters. “No longer will you fight and kill for a cause that can be handled in peace.” Regulus looked around to make sure everyone was paying attention.

“These rooms are to keep you safe, so please don’t try to leave. It is imperative that Voldemort” he watched every cringe, “does not find you or see you. If he does, I don’t think I have to say what will happen.”

He paused to allow the murmuring among the men to die down. “It is the hope of our group to return to the true pureblood ways, not the thieving and killing of muggles and muggle raised for the sport of it. I really fail to understand why you think that kind of behavior dignified.”

Regulus noticed some of the men sporting bright red cheeks in shame when put that way.

“The house elves are here for your comfort. You will address them appropriately and they do have the right and command to punish any rude or hostile behavior. We don’t care if you get the hard rough towels or the soft ones, nor if you eat mush or fancy dinners all the time. The nicer you are to the elves the better you will be treated. Remember they are not your elves so you will have to ask politely for what you need.”

He watched the shocked looks on their faces, but everyone nodded in assent of understanding what he said.

“There will be two phoenixes arriving here shortly and I would hope that you treat their home well.” Regulus knew Silver and Black were due to arrive in just a few days now, although they didn’t know the exact day or time.

Regulus was starting to walk out the door and reset the wards to keep the men in when he turned around again to add one more thing, “The portraits are of the founders of Hogwarts. If I were you, I would start studying for your new place in society. Death Eater extraordinaire just isn’t going to cut it anymore.”

In a manor at an undisclosed location…

Voldemort was tired of Bella complaining. He had been using her mark to summon the missing followers for weeks now, but to no avail. She sat on the floor at his feet whimpering in pain.

“Bella, stop that sniveling, you should be happy to suffer for your Lord and Master.”

“Yes, My Lord.” She replied weakly. She was happy to suffer, but it seemed like she was the only one suffering and she felt like she was weak. If she could just sleep for a few hours she would be much stronger.

The woman’s husband had just entered the room. “Rodolphus Lestrange, you will cancel any more attacks as of right this minute. Until I can establish the reason for these disappearances, I do not want to lose any more followers. We will have a council meeting this evening. Find out why Lucius Malfoy has not been honoring my summons and see if you can find that Severus Snape person as well. We need answers and my undercover spies had better have some.

Rodolphus floo-called to Malfoy Manor only to be greeted by an elf and told he would deliver the message. He couldn’t even get into the house by floo and wondered why all the extra protection even from family. Narcissa Malfoy was after all his sister-in-law as Belletrix’s sister.

Truth be told, the Malfoy home was not warded against family, it was only warded against the dark mark, but Lestrange didn’t know that Lucius and Narcissa no longer had their marks. The elf contacted his master immediately and after a discussion with Narcissa, Lucius decided to come home and help the Prince organization as best he could. They knew it would be a risk, but the alternative would be worse. There was nothing from keeping that mad man from trying to locate the Malfoy family in France and they wanted to avoid that at all costs.

It was close to June first when Silver and Black were expected to show. Salazar and Becca took the children to Between Manor to stay a few days and greet them. She was very careful to stay in the family quarters away from the others to keep the children safe. Harry and Severus were not happy about it at first, but knew she could portkey down in an instant if there was any kind of trouble.

As for Salazar, although he had asked Harry and Severus for Becca’s hand in marriage, he felt he should meet her real Grandfathers and ask them also. The attacks had stopped for now, but they knew they were going to get worse later on and wanted the men to be prepared.

Now for the show at the undisclosed location…

On the pretext of anti apparation wards where Snape was, Malfoy retrieved a portkey from Rodolphus to set up a meeting with Voldemort. It had been decided that with his ever growing family, (Narcissa was pregnant again) it would not be a good idea for him to go. Harry wanted to use polyjuice and go in his place, but Severus reminded him, he could not pull of ‘snarky’ enough to fake the Malfoy charisma. It was decided Severus and Snape would go with Severus polyjuiced as Malfoy. This way he could flash them out of there if needed.

They portkeyed at the appropriate time and Harry was left sitting there with Malfoy, Moony and Regulus. They were all very worried about the two men for one reason or another.

When they arrived, they were greeted by several Death Eaters at wand point. It was a sign that there was much suspicion even amongst the followers. Severus smirked the Malfoy smirk well, and drawled in that aristocratic tone, “Gentlemen, I do believe that five wands is a bit of overkill. Let’s put away our toys and get on with this, the Dark Lord is waiting.”

“Oh, that is Lucius. But what about the other one?” one of the masked men said.

“I can vouch for him,” Malfoy chimed in.

“Not good enough Malfoy, we have to know from his own lips,” another masked Death Eater said.

Snape of course was not playing a part, he was the real thing. So with his face firmly set in his customary glare he said, “And exactly what tricks would you like me to perform for you, to prove who I am?”

“Eh, tell us something only Snape would know” said one not too bright kid that Snape actually remembered from Hogwarts. The kid was at least a year or two younger than him, Snape recollected.

“If I tell you something only Snape would know, then how are you going to know I told the truth?” Snape snarled back at the idiot boy. Dunderheads, all of them.

“We are wasting time here.” Malfoy said. “Go and get my sister-in-law and she will be better able to handle this.”

“She is with the Dark Lord and cannot be disturbed.”

“Isn’t that where we are headed now?” Malfoy answered back. “Oh, never mind that, we are going to be late for our meeting.” The young Lord stalked off in the direction of the throne room to meet his enemy. It was a good thing he knew where it was from the previous time line.

When they entered the throne room, the first thing he saw was Bella lying on the floor. The expression of agony on her face told the tale of her being used over and over again to summon those that were not going to answer. The next thing he saw was Voldemort on the throne chair waiting for their entrance. Both men immediately came before and kneeled as was the standard practice.

“It has been a long time Lucius; I do hope you have some information for me as my patience is growing very thin.” The red eyes in the man’s face were snapping with anger and impatience and Severus knew he needed to play his part well.

“Yes, My Lord, I do.” The Malfoy face answered. It was strange hearing Malfoy’s voice come out of his mouth, but he didn’t let on.

“Rise, Lucius, and tell me why has it taken you so long to get back here?” the mad man asked.

“My Lord,” the man said as he started to stand up straight. “I have been taking care of family business in France. My aunt is very old and about to die and needed me to help her with her personal and family business.”

“Why is your aunt more important than me?” Voldemort asked.

“I am sorry, My Lord, I do not explain myself well. My aunt holds a massive estate and wine vineyards and although I am her favorite, another cousin could have come in and claimed them if he had been called to help. I believe that this location would be perfect for an attempt to take over France once Britain is done. I also believe that the over two hundred million galleons that come with the estate can help fund our organization quite nicely.”

“And, did you not think, I should have been notified that this is why you were gone?” Voldemort asked in a dangerous tone.

“When I was called to her bedside, I did not know the extent of the estate. It was one inherited by her husband but they remained childless. Once I was there I started formulating the plan to help her make up her mind in who to bequeath her estate to. That is why Narcissa is still there with our son. So they can appease the old woman with the people around her.”

“Snape, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“There have been some strange things heard around the company. Prince Conglomerate maintains a neutral position in the war, but it is rumored that Dumbledore has tried to convince them that they need to join his side. He has also sabotaged several of their products to make their company look bad in retaliation of not joining his Order of the Phoenix. They will not budge on their own issues of neutrality, but they do keep tabs on him. Yesterday I overheard a conversation about him hiring mercenaries to attack muggles and blame it on you.”

“Do you know anything else about my missing followers?”

“I am sorry my Lord, I didn’t know that any were missing.” Snape answered back. “I would imagine these mercenaries could have them imprisoned some where. If you would like, I will see what else they know about the order.”

Switching his interrogation to the other, he said, “One last thing Malfoy, did Narcissa tell you anything about a prophecy? About a child born in July?” Voldemort watched carefully at the blond before him.

“I didn’t know anything about a prophecy, and if Narcissa was told not to say anything, she would keep your secrets. Would you like me to find out who the child is?” Malfoy asked carefully.

“I only want to know what children were born at the end of July. No one seems to be able to get this information for me. You will get it and bring it back to me immediately or suffer the consequences.” The man’s rage was spiking again and his wand hand was twitching.

“Certainly My Lord. May I have permission to call an elf from my house?” Voldemort raised his eyebrows for a minute before nodding his head.

“Dobby!”

“Yes, Master Malfoy, What can Dobby be doing for you today?” it was Sentry Dobby that came into the room but the others didn’t know that.

“Give me parchment and quill.” Said the elf’s master in a gruff tone. Inside Severus cringed a little at having to treat the small being so roughly, but he let nothing of this show on his face.

After writing a quick note he handed it to the elf and said, “You will take this to the Director of St Mungo’s and tell him I want a list of every child born in May, June and July. It will be Draco’s first birthday and we want to invite as many of his future classmates as possible. It will allow us to get to know the families before they start Hogwarts. Tell him to check the registry of those born at home with midwives as well.”

“Very good sir.” And the elf popped off.

Of course this had all been prearranged but Voldemort didn’t know that. Bella looked at her brother-in-law with some distain. Did he really think that he was going to do in an hour what she had not been able to accomplish in a month? Those records were sealed and private. No one would get them, even for Lucius Malfoy.

“Shall we have tea while we wait?” Lucius Malfoy asked.

Voldemort didn’t question the actions of the follower before him. Something was different about the Malfoy Lord, but he couldn’t place what the difference was and was inclined to put it off as not having seen the man for a few months.

About half an hour later ‘Dobby’ popped back into the throne room and handed his master a scroll of parchment. Then he popped back out and back to Prince Manor knowing not to even wait for a reply. His orders were to bring the information and get out before being attacked by Nagini.

Lucius Malfoy opened the scroll and noticed that all the children’s names were there as well as their birthdates after the names. There were three sheets of parchment filled with names. He sighed in relief. It had taken Doc and Becca days to perfect this list but no one had to know that either.

He handed the list to Voldemort and watched his expression. The rage subsided as triumph now over shadowed his face. “I see I have been relying on the wrong people.” He said as he glanced in Bella’s direction as she whimpered. “Next time I need something, I will call on you sooner.” He said in distraction as his eyes feasted on the information in front of him.

“How soon will it be before you are back in the country, Lucius? I do realize that settling an estate of those magnanimous proportions can be quite exhausting and time consuming but I need you here to help with the war effort.”

“I would say that I will need to reside in France until the end of the year. I do not believe my aunt will hold on much longer; but since she has been sick for some time there, have been things that have fallen out of order and repairs on the property that need attending. We are also overseeing the construction of a small cottage for guests to stay. I am anticipating everything being completed for Christmas holidays. I will stay in touch more now that I know you have needed my help as well.”

“Do you come back into the country often to attend your own business?” Voldemort asked.

“I have on a few occasions. Just long enough to settle things and return straight back to France. Now though, there should be more free time since a major portion of the work in planning and designing changes are completed. I don’t need to be there all the time to watch workers build something, just to inspect that they are following the plans correctly and to take care of necessary changes.”

“Good. Keep in touch and we hope to see you back at our side after the holidays. This is a crucial time in the war and we need the inner circle here.” Voldemort turned to Snape, whom he had completely ignored up to this point. “Snape, you will be given a portkey to get you through the anti-apparation wards so you may attend meetings.”

“Oh, and Lucius, can you tell me why the Director of St. Mungo’s let you have this list so quickly?” Voldemort said suspiciously.

“Certainly, I arranged for my aunt’s estate to donate five hundred thousand galleons to the research of magical maladies for children.” He informed the psychopath.

“You are dismissed.” Voldemort said with a sly smile on his face. He had been inclined to curse the two men at least once for their absence, but the information they provided today was quite useful. The Malfoys new millions would be the crowning glory of his organization. Oh, yes, he knew Malfoy was probably getting even more, but with those kinds of funds at his disposal, he was willing to overlook it.

Severus, as Lucius Malfoy, had one more request of the man; just one more thing he could set up for the future. “My Lord, there is a nest of small basilisk snakes on the property as protection. I would like to request permission to make you a present, of one of them, as company for Nagini. It could be arranged as soon as they are able to travel safely.”

“Basilisks, you say? How did they come to be there?”

“I believe, My Lord, one of my uncle’s relatives brought it as an egg, not knowing what it was. It would be dangerous for you to travel to speak with them. Also, the estate is under the Fidelius Charm, and I am not yet the secret keeper. However, one of the snakes could be brought here on my next trip if you would like.”

“Yes, I believe that would be most acceptable. Thank you, Lucius”

Severus and Snape couldn’t get out of there fast enough.