[ Damien Greengrass POV ]
"The opportunity… to rid the British Ministry of Magic of Arthur Weasley once and for all."
Those were the words Lucius Malfoy had just spoken.
I swallowed slowly, still trying to process the earlier claim.
"Lucius, do not toy with me," I said carefully. "I am more than willing to help you remove that incompetent Weasley if you intend to oppose Albus Dumbledore and his lapdogs."
I narrowed my eyes.
"But you need not make such an absurd claim to gain my cooperation."
Lucius said nothing.
Instead, he simply stared at me for several seconds before rolling up the sleeve of his left arm.
The skin beneath revealed the Dark Mark.
Jet black.
Clear.
Alive.
A faint warmth radiated from it as if the magic within had awakened once more.
I inhaled sharply.
For a moment I simply stood there, forcing myself to breathe slowly as the implications settled in my mind.
Finally, I exhaled.
"And what," I asked quietly, "does the Dark Lord want from me?"
My gaze hardened.
"Even if he has returned, the neutral houses will not blindly support him as we once did. He vanished when the war was turning in our favor."
Lucius met my gaze calmly.
"The Dark Lord was struck by his own Killing Curse," he said evenly. "His body was destroyed and he fell into a period of great weakness."
He leaned forward slightly.
"But he has returned… and he is very much sane."
I said nothing.
"The Dark Lord has also made you an offer," Lucius continued. "If you assist him now, he will ensure that your youngest daughter no longer suffers from the blood curse."
My eyes narrowed.
"What exactly does he want from me, Malfoy?"
Lucius gestured toward the chairs.
"I will explain everything once the others arrive."
With a flick of his wand he summoned a bottle of firewhisky and two glasses.
He poured us both a drink and slid one toward me.
I took a sip.
We sat in silence.
Five minutes later the fireplace flared green.
Two figures stepped out one after the other.
Thaddeus Nott and Augustus Fawley.
Both men immediately noticed the tension in the room before taking their seats.
Fawley glanced between us.
"What exactly has everyone so tense?"
I simply looked at Lucius.
Lucius sighed.
"The Dark Lord has returned."
Silence filled the room.
Thaddeus leaned forward sharply.
"And why," he asked coolly, "would the Dark Lord reach out to you first, Lucius?"
His eyes narrowed.
"And even if he did… it is rather surprising that he spared you. After all, you were the first person to appear after the Dark Lord was supposedly destroyed by the boy."
Lucius's gaze turned cold.
"The Dark Lord was at Borgin and Burkes," he replied calmly. "I happened to visit the shop to sell several artifacts."
Thaddeus snorted.
"Spare us the half-truths, Malfoy. Tell us everything."
"Indeed," Fawley added. "Or we may simply pretend this meeting never happened."
Lucius's jaw tightened.
Finally he spoke.
"The Dark Lord entrusted me with an artifact for safekeeping."
"With the Ministry raids led by Arthur Weasley becoming more frequent, I feared it would eventually be discovered."
Lucius took a slow sip of his drink.
"And I knew any artifact belonging to the Dark Lord would hardly be legal."
The room remained silent.
"So I ensured it found its way into the possession of the Weasley family."
Realization dawned across their faces.
"I assumed the artifact would eventually unleash some curse… and rid us of those blood traitors."
Lucius leaned back slightly.
"The Dark Lord discovered what happened."
Thaddeus raised an eyebrow.
"And yet you still stand here."
Lucius took another drink.
"You can imagine how that conversation went."
Thaddeus folded his arms.
"Why would we help him now? The Mark does not call us. We are not bound."
Lucius shook his head.
"The Dark Lord is no longer the unstable creature he became near the end of the war."
His voice lowered slightly.
"He is free from whatever rituals twisted him into that… abomination."
Lucius looked at each of us in turn.
"Frankly speaking, he is far more terrifying now than he has ever been."
Silence followed.
"What he asks of us," Lucius continued, "is simple."
"And the rewards are quite satisfying."
Fawley leaned forward.
"What exactly does he want?"
Lucius nodded.
"I will be direct."
"Fawley, you will use your position within the Department of Magical Infrastructure to file a false complaint."
Fawley raised an eyebrow.
"A complaint regarding secrecy wards failing in several locations."
Lucius continued.
"You will then issue an emergency notice advising wizarding citizens to remain indoors and avoid unnecessary travel."
Fawley nodded slowly.
"And the Hogwarts Express?"
"The boarding period must be shortened," Lucius said. "And moved to earlier in the morning."
Fawley frowned slightly.
"And the wards?"
"They must fail shortly after most students have boarded."
Lucius then looked toward us.
"As for you, Nott… Greengrass."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"The Dark Lord intends for the Weasley boy to violate the International Statute of Secrecy."
"How?" I asked.
"With his father's enchanted Muggle car."
Fawley laughed.
"Why did we not think of this sooner? We could have ended Weasley's career years ago."
"I will ensure the lCW representative hears of it," Thaddeus said immediately.
"I will handle the Muggle side," I added. "A few clear photographs appearing on local news channels will do the rest."
rose from my chair.
I rose from my chair and looked at the three of them. "The train departs the day after tomorrow. Begin your preparations, gentlemen. We will meet again once everything is in place." Reaching into my robes, I pulled out my portkey and activated it a moment later, the familiar tug behind my navel yanking me away as the study of Malfoy Manor vanished from sight.
- Elsewhere -
[ Tom Riddle POV ]
As I sat in meditation, focusing on strengthening the link between my soul and the diary, I began to notice a troubling pattern. The farther I moved away from the diary, the weaker the traits and stability granted by its essence became. Normally, when I completely exhausted my magic, it required two or three days to recover fully, and during that recovery my reserves would grow slightly, perhaps two or three percent at most. Yet now nearly six hours had passed and my magical reserves had only recovered to roughly sixty percent.
This was problematic.
If I failed to retrieve the ring by tomorrow night, I would have no choice but to wait until the Christmas break before attempting this again. Worse still, I was not confident enough to attempt devouring the soul within the diadem yet. The ring had been created only a few years after the diary, so the fragment within it should not be strong enough to overpower me entirely.
Still, assumptions had destroyed greater wizards than I.
"Haaah…" I let out a long breath and rose from the forest floor.
Carefully, I began placing concealment wards around the ruined shaft that led toward the shack. They would hide any magical disturbance and prevent attention from wandering too close, especially from the ever watchful British Ministry of Magic.
By the time I finished layering the concealments, nearly half of my remaining magical reserves had already been spent.
Overly cautious, perhaps. Yet necessary.
Satisfied with the concealments, I turned my attention toward the wards surrounding the shack, protections placed there decades ago by my future self, Lord Voldemort.
Fortunately we were one and the same.
Our souls shared the same origin, and the wards recognized that. They did not reject me, though their magic had clearly grown unstable after decades without proper maintenance. The enchantments felt volatile, their structure warped by time.
Slowly and carefully, I began dismantling the outer layers.
The moment I unraveled one of the primary protective wards, the effort drained the last of my magical reserves.
"Agh!"
A violent surge of pain exploded inside my skull. I staggered forward and clutched my head as if invisible claws were tearing through my mind. My vision blurred and my knees nearly gave out beneath me as the agony pulsed through my skull.
"Huff… huff…"
I forced myself to breathe slowly, dragging in deep breaths while gripping my head tightly. The strain on my soul from overextending my magic was far worse than I had anticipated.
This was bad.
At this rate I might manage to retrieve the ring, but devouring the soul within it would have to wait for another time. Attempting that battle in my current condition would be reckless. Attempting it anywhere near Hogwarts would be even worse while Albus Dumbledore remained there watching everything with that infuriatingly obsessive awareness.
Possessing Ginny Weasley inside the castle was a risk I was unwilling to take.
"Haaah…"
I leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree and closed my eyes, focusing once more on strengthening the connection with the diary while allowing my magic to slowly recover.
Time passed.
When my reserves had replenished enough to continue, I stepped forward again and resumed dismantling the remaining wards. One by one their structures began to unravel beneath my control.
Then the air twisted violently.
The remaining wards surged to life, lashing out like a wounded beast. Dark magic burst outward and coiled together before me, swirling into a dense mass of black mist. The magic condensed rapidly, shaping itself into a humanoid form.
Before I could react, the figure lunged straight at me.
- To Be Continued -
This chapter took me like 3 hours to write and it has around 1.6k words and from the next chapter, the story will move a bit faster.
Next Chapter at 70 poweratones. If not does not hit 70 poweratones, I'll upload once again next week.
Take care and cya