Chapter 11 – "O thou foul thief…"
"O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter,"
William Shakespeare, Othello, Act 1, Scene 2
Saturday, September 2nd, 1996
"You may wonder why I have called you all here tonight," said Voldemort as he began the meeting of his Death Eaters. It was rare that the Dark Lord gathered the entire assembly of his Death Eaters. "As you know I consider you all to be my true family," said Voldemort as he walked slowly round the circle. The moon was nearly three-quarters full. Leaves littered the clearing of the forest which had been carefully shielded from the view of outsiders. The Dark Lord's red eyes glinted in the dark night as he surveyed his followers dressed in black cloaks and silver masks.
"I am the head of this household and sometimes I must ask great sacrifices of you in service to our cause," he turned towards one of the masked people. "Avery, tell me what it is that we labor for?"
"The purification of Wizarding society, my Lord," he answered.
"Yes. A most worthy and noble objective," said Voldemort walking past Avery to question another, "And what happens to those that fail me in achieving our goals?"
"They are punished, Master," a woman's voice replied.
"Correct, Narcissa. Did you know that Dumbledore once refused me a position at Hogwarts? Do you think I would have made a good schoolmaster, Severus?"
"Yes, my Lord, the finest," the Potions Master responded.
"A good teacher knows how to punish those who fail to obey him and how to reward those who are deserving of his praise," said Voldemort sternly. He put back his terrible face and sniffed the brisk night air; his slit-like nostrils widening. "I still smell the stink of guilt on some of you.
"Many of you lost faith in me. I, who am your Lord and Master. Only a few remained truly loyalty to me," he continued. "The Lestranges were steadfast. Their loyalty to me was unwavering. Rather than renounce me, as some of you did, they were entombed in Azkaban for thirteen years. But they have suffered more than any of you yet know."
"Months before I was weakened, I helped the Lestranges to conceive a child. For what is a family without children? How can we purify the Wizarding World without more purebloods to purge out the bad blood? Who will practice the Old Ways as we do? When Bellatrix was sentenced to life imprisonment, she was with child. And they stole her infant daughter for her as soon as she was born. These conspirators deceived the Lestranges into believing that their infant was stillborn!"
"It is an outrage, Master!" cried out one of the Death Eaters.
"Yes, Lucius, it is that and more," replied Voldemort. "This heinous crime was not only committed against the Lestranges – but against me – against us all! We will retrieve what was taken from us and we will have our retribution. An example must be made of these kidnappers – so no one will dare lay a hand on another pureblooded child of ours."
"Sturgis, Sturgis, Sturgis," Rodolphus chanted mockingly. "How I've missed our little chats. Speaking of which, I had the most interesting conversation with a colleague of yours, Duncan Galway. Can you guess what he told me? After he was sufficiently induced to do so, of course" said Rodolphus.
He addressed a wizard with thick straw-colored hair. The man was chained to a chair that had been anchored to a stone floor, so it would tip over, which had been their mistake with Galway.
"I think Duncan must have said that you are an even uglier son of bitch than before we put you into Azkaban," said Podmore staring straight into Rodolphus' lake blue eyes. Sturgis knew his interrogator to be a vain man, who was no doubt sensitive about the loss of his once handsome feature.
Rodolphus pointed his wand at the restraints that held Podmore making the chains wound tighter over the Auror's body, so that every breath the man took caused him pain.
"That's very uncivilized of you to say Podmore," Rodolphus replied. "But what else can you expect from a coward who beats a wizard without a wand, weakened by starvation and dementors?" he asked bitterly.
"Hello Sturgis," Rabastan greeted the man whose brother he had killed. "You'll be seeing Bernie real soon. Tell the bastard I said hello."
Podmore growled and strained against the chains. He let loose a river a swear words till his throat was sore.
"Now that you've got that out of your system," said Rodolphus smoothly.. "Galway informed us that my daughter is alive."
"Hah! Then Galway must have been sloshed because there's about a snowball's chance in hell your brat's still breathing. But don't worry, I'll tell her that her mum and dad say hello."
Rodolphus clenched his jaw. "If you cooperate with us, you'll leave this world in a lot less pain. I've had thirteen years to think up a thousand ways to pay you back for insulting my wife and for your cowardice. At least when we went after the Longbottoms, we gave them the chance to defend themselves. We could've just as easily waited till they were all snug in their beds."
"So you're going to talk me to death," Podmore yawned. "Give me the rack or the iron maiden. This is worse than Crucio."
"Tell us where you sent our daughter," Bellatrix cut in, "Or you'll be begging for Cruciatus."
"Why Mrs. Lestrange, the last time I saw you, you had your legs in the air. I guess you're quite the screamer in bed," said Podmore leeringly.
"Why you, insolent…" Bellatrix moved to strike him. Rodolphus got to him first and punched the man so hard a tooth came loose. "Where is our daughter, Podmore?"
"Gladly," answered Sturgis with a bloody and menacing grin. "You don't have to torture me to tell you where we sent your hell spawn… We gave her an all expenses paid vacation to an orphanage, a Muggle orphanage."
"Liar!" Bellatrix shouted her wand pointing deep into his throat. "Galway said she was being given to decent people."
Podmore laughed again. Rodolphus had to restrain his wife to stop her from plunging her wand straight through the Auror's throat.
"Remember luv, information first; satisfaction later," he reminded his wife.
"Of course, I told him, we'd give her to decent folks," explained Podmore. "Duncan wouldn't have gone through with it otherwise. He didn't know that I picked out the worst stinkin' Muggle orphanage I could find. A shit-hole in the middle of nowhere. A real good home for a child of the damned."
"Let me takeover the questioning," a sharp voice said from behind. Snape emerged from the shadows. He had been observing the proceedings with the interest of a spider watching its prey squirm in its web.
"Why, hullo there professor," Podmore greeted him and tried to spit on the man.
"He wants us to give him a quick and easy end," Snape said to the Lestranges without turning around to face them. "Who was involved in this plot, Podmore?"
"Just me and Galway," Sturgis replied trying to shrug his shoulders, but was hindered from the effort by the chains that crisscrossed over his chest.
"We know for a fact that you had more accomplices. Merlin knows you're not clever enough to have planned something as elaborate as this on your own. This is your last chance to go the easy route. My associates are eager to use much cruder means."
"Bring it on then," said Sturgis fearlessly.
"Gryffindors," Snape said the word like an epithet. With a quick shout of, "Legilimens!" Snape found himself plunged into the cesspool of pornography and alcoholism that made up the bulk of Podmore's mind.
The quality of wizards the Ministry employed nowadays was staggeringly pathetic. They had little to no resistance for attacks on what passed for their minds. The more the Auror tried to repress the memories involving the plot – this Pact of Four, as they called it – the faster those particular remembrances came to the forefront of his consciousness.
There was a memory of Podmore waking up in a puddle of his own vomit after he had drunken himself into a state of unconscious after learning about the murder of his brother, Bernard. Then Snape was nearly deafened by Bellatrix's screams during her difficult labor. The birth of a baby was enough to make any wizard pass out – all the mucus and fluids that came pouring out of the womb… but Snape was made of sterner stuff. He was a Potions Master after all. The profession required a lot of contact with the insides and outsides of creatures. He however did thank Merlin that he was a man and not a woman.
Snape watched as Podmore incapacitated the Midwife and her assistant. At least the Auror had waited till the women had placed the babe down before he stunned them both. Then he sensed Podmore's avarice as he pocketed a piece of parchment with something wet stuck to it. A caul, how interesting, Snape thought.
Podmore gave the infant to Galway. Then the two men were pummeling Rodolphus mercilessly after they had told the man his child was dead.
And then there in the corner of Sturgis' mind were three men in an office: Podmore, McCalister, and… Barty Crouch senior. Galway had been left out.
Snape compelled Sturgis' weaker mind to focus on the memory. The men were finalizing their plans.
"Did you get in touch with Karakoff?"asked Crouch.
"Yes, he suggested Odessa in the Ukraine," answered McCalister. He unrolled a map and pointed out the location of the orphanage. "A place called Zaporizhzha. It's crowded and understaffed. Poor and remote with no wizards or witches on staff or even in the nearby town. The government forbids adoptions by foreigners. There won't be any attempt to find the its natural parents," said McCalister.
"I don't know why we're even bothering with an orphanage. It's too much of a bloody risk," said Podmore bitterly.
"I hope you're
not suggesting that we kill a child," asked McCalister.
"Why not? We're going to tell them it's dead anyway. We'd just be making it the truth," retorted Podmore.
"No," Crouch interrupted. A line had be drawn somewhere and it was going to be here. "Galway won't go for it and we need his cooperation. We'll just tell him we've found a nice foreign family to raise the child."
With that Snape gladly left the mind of the despicable Auror. Sturgis groaned in pain. It was the worst headache the man had ever experience and he was used to waking up with hangovers on a daily basis.
Lucius arrived in Odessa and made his way to the local Wizarding magistrate's office. After being welcomed by the mayor's very attractive young secretary, Lucius was greeted by a stout man in a dark tan military uniform.
"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," he greeted him in thickly accented English. He noticed the finely tailored robes of his guest.
"Greetings, Mayor Wolanski," Lucius said shaking hands with the man and taking the proffered seat across from the man's desk.
"I haff heard that you are looking for somevone… a young girl?" the mayor asked lasciviously. He cocked a knowing eyebrow at his decadent aristocratic guest.
"Yes," Lucius practically hissed the word. The debauched presumption of the official disgusted him. "She is the daughter of a close associate of mine," Lucius emphasized. He had to be careful not to offend Wolanski, from whom he needed help, but he wanted it known that his intentions were honorable. "The girl was left at the Zaporizhzha Home for Orphans close to fifteen years ago," explained Lucius. "My friend finds himself without any heirs and would like to reclaim her."
Wolanski's face darkened. "Ahh, I see," the man breathed deeply. "Dis is most unfortunate," he continued, "De orphanage burnt down over a decade ago."
"Are you sure?" Lucius asked.
"Yes, it vas a terrible tragedy. It vas a Muggle orphanage," added the Mayor quickly trying to alleviate any culpability on his part. "It had to do with de gas pipes. Thare was a leak… And vell many of de comrades smoke… De explosion happened so quickly. Thare vas no time to save them. It vas far from town and even in the town thare are no wizards. Thare vere no survivors. If it is any consolation, dey believed that most of de children died of the gas in deir sleep, before the fire started. Thare is a memorial statue the townspeople put up over the site if your friend would like to visit."
Lucius was shaken by the news, but only looked at the Mayor stonily. "But there is a chance she might have been adopted before the fire."
"All de adoption records vere kept at the orphanage. Dey vere also incinerated," the official said. He began to wonder if the girl had been the bastard daughter of the man sitting across from him.
Lucius gritted his teeth and stood up. "It was nice meeting you Mr. Mayor." He placed a small pouch of fifty galleons onto the man's desk. "An anonymous donation for your time."
"Yes," replied Wolanski as he eagerly eyed the money. "I am alvays happy to help."
"It burnt down?" Rodolphus asked disbelievingly.
"Yes, I'm sorry," said Lucius. "I visited the memorial… there was nothing left." The Muggle townspeople had erected a statue of a weeping angel where the building had once stood. All that remained was the scorched earth where nothing dared to grow.
"She could still be alive," said Bellatrix softly her gaunt face going pale. Narcissa sitting next to her put a comforting hand on her arm.
"They'll pay for this!" Rodolphus exclaimed. He stood up and knocked the coffee table over. The silver sterling tea tray with porcelain cups were sent crashing unto the hard stone floor.
"No, I won't believe it until I see a body," said Bellatrix firmly. "They told me she was dead before and I believed them. They tried to hand me this dead thing and said it was my baby. I won't be fooled again. There must be some spell, some incantation, something we can do to know for sure."
"She could have been adopted," said Rodolphus holding onto a thread of hope. "Merlin help me, I am going to find my daughter… even if… If she is dead at least we'll know. We won't be torturing ourselves wondering if she's being treated properly. And the Good Goddess have mercy on Podmore and McCallister if our daughter lies dead, because I won't. They'll envy the dead, when I'm through."
Author's Note: Yes, I'm evil. A little bit of a cliff-hanger. Stay tuned. And REVIEW of course. :)