A/N: This is starting to wrap up (like it or not). Maybe three (perhaps 5 if they turn out as short as this one did) chapters left.
Chapter 7: Just a puppet on a lonely string
The minister was bored.
It had been a week since he had last seen Harry.
He had been bored for about a week as well. What a funny coincidence.
Currently sitting in a board meeting (read: bored meeting) with his advisors (read: followers), Riddle could not help but think of his suitor and what mayhem he was up to. The whispers continued among the Wizengamot about Riddle being a secret dark lord - enough people had been threatened and they had finally realized that they were not alone because of that article. The forces against him were beginning to band together, though the rest of the population remained delightfully ignorant of the political situation. Riddle was tuning out the majority of the conversation happening around him while looking perfectly alert at his seat. That is until a peculiar suggestion by the usually not-too-bright Thorfinn Rowle filtered through his daze.
"Maybe it's time for a platform shift."
Noise in all of London seemed to stop.
"What do you mean?" asked another Death Eater.
"I think we need our ideals to grow before we start alienating too many people," the way Rowle chewed through these words made Riddle lean forward. It sounded like Rowle was repeating something he had been told before. But where would he have heard such a thing? The wizarding world was the opposite end of the spectrum from forward-thinking in most ways. "We could start by supporting and furthering the recent education changes that were made for the muggleborns."
"That could help gain support in the wizengamot for us again - or at least stop the whispers we've all been hearing. With the majority support, we can slip the little things through more easily," suggested another death eater.
"We could do more than support the recent education changes. What if we further them? That would make people believe it was us doing it the whole time." Another different death eater.
"What are you thinking we could do?" And another.
"What if we open new universities to get masteries in different fields?" Still another death eater? This wasn't making any sense to the Minister. His death eaters were usually so...bland? Dependent? Couldn't-even-get-up-in-the-morning-without-being-told-how-and-when?
"We could use the universities. Potions masters are in critical need. "
"So are healers."
"And our commerce is at an all-time low. What if we could offer some business classes?"
The poor quick-notes quill was practically burning across the parchment trying to keep up with the suggestions. Riddle, Severus Snape, and Lucius Malfoy shared an incredulous look. At least those two were just in-the-dark about this as he was, Riddle thought.
"Then wizards could invest wizarding money in wizarding businesses. I'm sure the goblins would be thrilled with us if that happened! Right now most of us have to invest in muggle businesses."
"Could we offer the arts as well at these universities? Music, singing, and acting?"
"Oh! What about offering the dark arts! This could be the perfect opportunity to change the name. 'Dark arts' has such a bad connotation." This suggestion was put forth by Crabbe, Sr. That's when Riddle knew absolutely that something was wrong here, and luckily, Crabbe's mental skills were so bad that he was practically projecting his thoughts. And in them, a certain green-eyed menace was sharing drinks and chatting up Crabbe in a bar about this exact topic.
"Should muggleborns be allowed entrance?"
"They'd have to be get the numbers up."
"How much would it cost?"
"It should be free if students can keep the right grades and pass the right tests."
"How could we pay for the school then?"
"Taxes! Think of how much more money we will be collecting if our economy picks up, if muggleborns especially stay in the wizarding world and work wizarding jobs."
Every single death eater offering a new idea had spoken to Harry Potter Riddle concluded with the aid of his legilimency.
"Stop." Riddle ordered. And everyone and everything did just that without Riddle having to raise his voice.
"I believe that is enough for today. I will take your...suggestions into consideration. Severus, Lucius, stay behind. Everyone else is dismissed. " The room cleared in seconds.
"Severus, did you see what I saw?" Riddle asked. The potions master nodded. "The nerve of that brat, seducing my followers right from under me!" Riddle fumed. "Was this his goal the whole time? Distract me while he secretly plots a way to steal what's mine!"
" I think a lot of the ideas do hold some merit -" Lucius was blasted from the room without a word.
"My Lord," Severus said cautiously. "For what it's worth and after only having met the man once, I do not think he is trying to steal anything away from you. He was so obviously a Gryffindor and they can't help but stick their noses where they don't belong. I think he's just trying fix what he perceives as wrong."
Riddle continued to seethe in silence, eventually headed to his office for a glass of scotch. Feeling particularly unhappy, he childishly didn't even offer Severus a glass before he took a seat royally at his desk. Severus remained standing.
"This is just my opinion of course," Severus continued. He pulled a vial from his pocket - the same one that Harry had slipped in Riddle's in the elevator and that Riddle had given to Severus to analyze shortly after. "My apologies, my lord. It took me longer than I anticipated to narrow down the uses of this potion. It was particularly difficult since I could not find reference to it anywhere."
"The results?" Riddle prompted. Severus did always have a flare for the dramatic. Most likely left over from his angst as a teenager.
"Ah..." A stutter from Severus? How delicious. "A male pregnancy potion from what I can ascertain. I believe he was offering to bear you an heir, my lord."
With a bow, Severus smartly left. Lord Voldemort did not like to be seen when surprised such as this - wide-eyed and confused.
Riddle took a deep gulp of his scotch before tucking the vial away safely. He was tired of feeling this way, so he did what he did best.
He pulled out his penseive, emptied all his memories of Harry into it, and prepared to research until there was not one aspect of the situation he did not understand. The answer was there somewhere like always. He just had to find it.
A/N: This will not be a MPREG fic. It will just be mentioned.
