It was cold on this full moon night. Even in the big house, which stretched over four floors, it was icy. But the cold didn't bother him anymore. He hardly felt it anymore. Of course he could have started a fire in the fireplace, but that would reveal his presence.
The Muggles in the adjoining houses, which were not nearly as impressive, had been very suspicious since that night 50 years ago, when two people were killed in that very house.
At that time the suspicion had fallen on the gardener - as in pretty much every murder case that could not or would not have been solved unequivocally. But why should you make it more complicated than it actually was? The gardener was the only person who had another key to the house and was never good at talking to his employers. But since no guilt could be proven against him, he was released after a short interrogation and has been living in the small hut behind the house ever since.
If he had now kindled a fire in this house, the gardener would have thought that once again young people had crept into the house to test their courage again. He had to think of something to get rid of the gardener.
He could not kill him. Because then the Muggle Police would observe the house and he would have to find a new place to live. That wouldn't be so bad if Malfoy hadn't let the Aurors catch him on a mission. Because now her house was occupied by them and could no longer be used by her peers.
However, there are other spells. Maybe he will curse the gardener with a jibe with which he talks himself in order to move in, since this property is far too much work for a single, no longer completely healthy man. And as soon as he has left his hut, he will lay some of the useful spells around and on Hogwarts - the famous school of witchcraft and sorcery - around the house.
The spell that makes the property invisible to Muggles and makes them forget their real concerns will be just as much a part of it as the Fidelius for the keeper of the secret. And for that very secret keeper, there is only one question with whom he will talk through his plan that night - and perhaps even carry it out.
He whom he trusts unconditionally, if you can put it that way. Of course he does not trust anyone, not even himself. However, he is the only one he can rely on. Who provides him with a lot of useful information and has never let him down. He - for whom he represents a father figure in his own eyes. Yes, one could even say that he even cares about his protégé.
He had the most intimate relationship with him than with any other person in his life.
Perhaps it was because they were so similar. They had the same family circumstances and also their curriculum vitae was very similar. Only the school years deviated from the biographies. One of them all admired - the other hated. But they had one thing in common during their school days, although they attended school at the age of almost twenty: They were very popular with the teachers and spent a lot of time in the library, where they acquired a lot of knowledge. Both were far ahead of their classmates. In addition to the knowledge recognized by all, both of them, except one, sank unnoticed into the studies of the dark arts which both perfectly mastered.
But his protégé has gone even further, for which he admires him very much. He started to develop and improve his own spells and potions in the seventh year of school.
And one day he was with him. He won the most valuable person for himself and his plans. It was a first victory for him and could therefore put his greatest enemy in a barrier. His greatest enemy - who at the time assumed that his protégé had returned to him - was the only one who still assumed that the boy hated and excluded by everyone would play a very important role in the story between good and evil. A role that will go far beyond what a normal person can achieve.
He was aware of the danger he was exposing his protégé to. And this knowledge hurt him. Knowing that he could lose his best man in any mission was very painful, but the helplessness and knowledge that he could do nothing was worse.
Although his protégé knew that he would endanger his life if he carried out his missions, he did not know what role he would play. The tasks he performed in addition to his "normal" duties were very much dependent on his mental and physical powers.
And you could see that more every day. You couldn't talk to him about it. He saw it as a weakness and hated it when he was the center of attention.
Slowly his thoughts returned to reality. They had to arrive here at any moment. The uncertainty of not knowing who had survived or not survived this important mission slowly became too much for him.
To him - the one who was feared by the whole world and loved, worshipped, almost idolized by only a few.
To him who cruelly frightened and upset the world.
To him who fears nothing, not even death.
He who does not distinguish between good and evil, but between the powerful and those who are too weak and too cowardly to strive for power.
For him the time of waiting became more and more unbearable and the concern for his people almost drove him crazy. Him whom all knew only as an ice-cold, unscrupulous murderer and destroyer.
Tom Vorlost Riddle alias Lord Voldemort.