Hi guys! There's a note at the bottom so please read it. (I'm not stopping the story so don't panic) I hope you'll all enjoy this chapter! It can be considered as an interlude (but a good one, it follows the 24th chapter). Some people wanted to see Nagini in action, so there she is for your enjoyment!
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The World Without Me
Chapter 25: Nagini's collection (Interlude)
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Riddle manor was immense: a three stories house with as many, if not more, traps than the great Hogwarts. However, for one with as much experience with this death trap of a mansion like Nagini, whose memory was infallible, it was no problem at all to move freely around.
What was great for our favourite spy was that personal callings from Voldemort aside, she could move freely wherever and whenever she wanted and was a symbol of respect and fear to Tom's servants. All the more, she was privy to all the information going around since she had to be present to all the gatherings. However, there was no gathering right now and the master of the house was out to do some more of his dirty deeds, meaning that Nagini had the chance to strike without fear of being caught.
"What do you think our Lord will do when he gets his hands on the Potter brat?"
Nagini stopped in the middle of the corridor and slithered in the shadows when she heard two approaching Death Eaters debating on the fate of her master. They walked so quickly that she didn't have the time to hear the response, but she obviously knew it had to be something nasty. "I'll ssstart with thossse two."
Quickly, but stealthily, she followed the scent of the servants and was overjoyed to see that they had organized a little reunion since Voldemort was absent from the mansion. She made a count and decided that twenty Death Eaters was not totally impossible to deal with; she would only need to act fast and get the hell out of there as soon as Dobby came back with his current Master, Lucius Malfoy. Too bad the blond aristocrat wasn't there; she would have had a lot of fun biting him.
She slithered in the shadows the room provided and moved to another room, connected with this one and providentially deprived of a source of light. Her plan was simple: lure a Death Eater in the room by making some noise and strike like lightning. Another would see if everything is alright and she would strike again.
She used her tail to make an ashtray fall from a table and hissed quietly in victory when she heard a man wonder about the noise. Slowly, dangerously, she poised herself for an attack and then…
STRIKE!
The shocked Death Eater slumped to the ground after a couple of seconds and Nagini uncoiled from around the man's neck. "One down, nineteen to go."
"Did you hear that Wilkes? It came from the other room."
"You're imagining things, Brahms."
The sound of quiet footsteps echoed once again in Nagini's direction. "I'm telling you I heard something." But there was no response from his comrade, except maybe a quiet scoff of indifference.
Nagini attacked again as soon as the one called Brahms advanced in the shadows in which she had chosen to hide both herself and her first victim. This time she was more experienced and not a sound came out of the Death Eater's mouth when he slumped to the ground, even though it took him a little more time to die.
Nagini's tongue tasted the air, her fangs, smeared with the man's blood, poking out dangerously from the gesture. "Hmmm. Thiss one wass a Werewolf. Ssstubborn creaturesss."
For a moment there was only silence as Nagini pulled the second body next to the first one.
"Brahms? What's taking you so long? Brahms? Oi, Derrick! Come with me, Brahms is trying to trick us."
A snicker.
"The idiot. Take your wand out, we'll get him."
Hm, this would prove to be a little more difficult for Nagini.
The men came in with their wand at the ready and both looked around curiously when they didn't see their comrade. "Brahms? You idiot, come out of your hiding place, you're not fooling us!" Wilkes called out with a gruff and impatient voice.
As soon as he set foot in the shadows of the room he yelped and fell brusquely on his back.
Derrick turned around and pointed his wand in the other Death Eater's general direction but he snickered and relaxed when he spotted Wilkes on the floor, rubbing his sore back and muttering obscenities under his breath.
"My, my, Wilkes. You're so full of grace today." Derrick laughed and walked in his friend's direction, putting his wand back where it belonged.
"It's not funny Derrick. I swear something caught my ankle and pulled me down!"
"Oh, come on! You probably just tripped on something." He tried to prove his point by stepping in the shadows but his breath caught in his throat when he, too, felt something around his ankle and pull hard, making him land in the same painful position as Wilkes.
"Damn! What the fuck was that!" he spit out, trying to see in the darkness while his friend continued to laugh his ass off, hurting his sore pride even more.
They were so caught up in their own little world that they didn't even see the heavy, scaly tail hurl toward their heads. It then coiled around their tangled legs and pulled them in the darkness. Nagini's collection kept growing, slowly but surely.
There was now sixteen Death Eaters left to deal with. Nagini hid again but no one came in the room to check on the four missing men. It was time to get risky and count on her status of Voldemort's familiar. She spotted a precious looking vase and deliberately pushed it off the table. It fell on the floor and broke with a crash.
"What was that?" A voice asked on the other side.
Many loud footsteps later, six death Eaters came in the room with raised wands. "Is somebody there? Show yourself!" one called out menacingly.
Something moved in the shadows.
"Stupefy!" The spell rebounded unexpectedly and hit the caster who was, no surprise there, Theodore Nott, ex-Slytherin.
"Theodore!" Nott, the father and experienced Death Eater, kneeled beside his frozen son. "Finite Incant- What's that?" He asked suddenly when the "thing" slowly came out of the room's dark spot.
The five others immediately pointed their wand in the right direction but quickly lowered them when they recognized the slithering terror that was their Master's pet.
"Jeez, it's only Nagini," Travers said while raking a hand through his hair.
"What is it doing here?" Barty crouch Junior sniffed in disdain.
Nagini secretly bristled at his tone of voice.
"How should I know?" Terrence Higgs snapped back, equally pissed at the snake's presence.
"Probably here to scare us just for the fun of it, again. I swear, that thing can understand what we say sometimes and is doing all it can to piss us off. Did you see how it killed Karkaroff? Mental that thing is."
'You have no idea, you ssstupid human' Nagini though while she slithered across the room freely, more and more in their direction. She used her huge length to her advantage. In a swift shove she swung her tail at them, effectively making them drop to the ground before they could even utter a word. She was already upon them when they regained their bearings.
Each bite was fatal.
Theodore Nott, still paralyzed on the floor, started to freak out. His eyes kept moving left and right, trying to see what was going on, but without success. After a few almost soundless thumps, an eerie silence encompassed the dimly lit room.
Then, a hiss.
Low and weak at first, but gaining volume quickly.
His eyes moved to his left side slowly. His insides were shaking. He was probably sweating all the water of his body out but could do nothing about it in his current condition.
The hissing sound was now right by his ear.
He didn't want to turn his eyes on the other side; he dreaded what he would see. He knew, he was no fool even if he was only seventeen, a young Death Eater in the making.
Eyes riveted or not on her, Nagini didn't have a care in the world. Since her target was frozen, there was no need to apply much pressure on the boy's neck.
Nott's eyes widen in pain for a brief moment until they started to close gradually. The last thing he saw was a scaly green blur slowly gliding away.
Nagini hid the six bodies with the others. No remorse for the dark side.
Now was a great time to act against the rest of the dark servants having their conversation in the other room before they started to worry about their missing comrades. She slid in said room with a great care not to be spotted, a rather difficult task with some Werewolves in there, and one, if not the, most dangerous one if her senses were correct.
She waited until they were all away from the table which held the food and drinks and surreptitiously opened her mouth and let the poison leek out of her protruding fangs and into the food. Then, she targeted a pitcher that contained a sweet smelling amber liquid and repeated the process.
She quickly slithered away from the table and waited avidly for all of them to serve themselves.
"I feel my mark burning. I hope our Master is alright. He hasn't been the same since this Potter brat showed himself." One of the Death Eaters, Millicent Bulstrode, winced visibly and clutched the marked arm. She received a slap at the back of her head from her once Hogwarts classmate Adrian Pucey, and quite a few glares from the older servants.
"Are you saying you doubt our Lord's power? Do you want us to be the prey of them?" Pucey whispered harshly to her, his eyes swaying in the others' direction.
"You're right. It was stupid of me." She tried to erase the nervousness she felt by taking a glass of Butterbeer, inviting the others to do the same. "A TOAST! To Lord Voldemort and to the war he offers us!"
This seemed to lower the tension in the room and they all responded to the call of faithfulness. "Toast! Hogwarts will soon be our Lord's, and then the world!"
'Bunch of idiotsss'
Minutes later, twin thumps resonated in the silent room. The adults rant to Millicent and Adrian who lay motionless on the floor. "HEY! Are you okay? Ugh!" Before they could reach the kids, they fell one after the other.
Greyback clutched his chest but was successful in getting his wand. "What the fuck is going on!"
Nagini would have frowned if she had been doted with eyebrows. 'Ssstuborn creature!' She slithered behind the last man standing and tripped him with her tail.
"Shit!" His wand clattered on the floor and rolled away, which gave Nagini the necessary time to attack him. She quickly coiled around him and viciously bit him in his muscled neck.
Greyback choked but grasped Nagini's body and tried to dislodge her by squeezing hard. It hurt Nagini so much she almost let go but instead her tail coiled around his chest in a double attack.
Greyback gasped and struggled wildly, scratching Nagini's thick skin with the help of sharp fingernails; a Werewolf's fingernails. She applied more pressure on the neck and torso, hissing angrily.
"Wh-y?" Greyback wheezed out in agony, a desperate plea to know. "Why is our Master sen-ding his s-snake on us?" His eyes rolled in the back of his head and he finally slumped on the floor, and on Nagini by the same occasion, if it wasn't already enough for her. She pushed him away impatiently and tiredly. 'It'sss finally over, for now.'
With the Werewolf leader finally dead, she relaxed. She was completely extenuated but had one last thing to do: one by one, slowly but surely, she hid them with the others in the dark room and pulled on the doorknob. The Cobra then stopped moving altogether and fell asleep right then and there.
The day passed slowly.
Nobody else came in the deserted room.
Sometime in the night, the house became alive again as the Dark Lord came back from his raid with the members of the Inner Circle. The servants who had stayed bustled around to accommodate their Lord.
A crack resonated in a lonely room of the mansion. Its single occupant didn't move. "Dobby is here! Where is Mister Potter's snake? Ah, there it is! Snake? Dobby is here to…Snake? Why is you ignoring Dobby?" The House-Elf used a bony finger to push the tired reptile gently.
Nagini opened her eyes and hissed faintly, but did not move.
"Mister Potter's snake isn't feeling well? Dobby doesn't know how to care for snakes. Dobby should bring you back to Mister Potter so he can take care of you." The little Elf carefully took hold of Nagini and disappeared with another loud crack.
………
My Lord, you must be tired after such a long raid. Why don't you sit down?" Rabastan Lestrange said in a humble voice.
Red eyes fixed the man a glare. "Do not presssume to tell me what to do, Rabasstan, if you do not wissh to be at the receiving end of my wand."
"Of course m'Lord" was the only hurried and stuttering response the older man got before he decided to sit down.
"Where are the otherss? Why aren't they here to greet me?" Riddle grumbled dangerously. Rabastan and the others in the room with him felt the Dark mark burning in warning.
"I-I will go get them immediately, Master!" Rodolphus Lestrange's brother bowed as low as he could and ran away.
Riddle sneered and ushered the rest of the Inner Circle away. As lost in his thoughts as he was, he still heard Rabastan come back a while later, shouting out for his Lord. "MASTER! MASTER!"
"Will you sstop sscreaming Lestrange? You do not want to give me a headache. Do behave like a man of your sstatusss would," Voldemort drawled tonelessly, his head cocked on one side.
Rabastan threw himself on the floor as a hurried apology. "I apologize, my Lord, but there is an emergency! I found the twenty missing men!"
"Ssso where are they, you idiot?" Tom interrupted impatiently.
"My Lord! They're- They are dead!"
"WHAT!" Riddle got up so quickly that the chair he was sitting in flew backwards and into a wall, making Rabastan wince pitifully. The older man's red eyes were blazing in fury and, dare Rabastan think it, perplexity, as if he didn't know what to make of these news, before he reigned it all in.
The Dark Mark blazed and echoes accompanied Rabastan's own screams of agony everywhere within the mansion and beyond.
"Who?"
"My-my Lord?"
Voldemort sneered. He was this close from performing Cruciatus on the babbling, incompetent fool.
"The dead oness, you immenssse wasste of my time!" he finally said between clenched teeth.
Rabastan shut his eyes and bowed on his knees until his head touched the ground. He could not bear to feel his Lord's gaze almost seeping through him. "David Quill, Ludovic Bagman, Augustus Rookwook, Crouch Junior, Jugson," Rabastan's voice shook as he spoke the next name "Rodolphus Lestrange."
He breathed in deeply, yet his voice still shook. "Nott –both father and son-, Travers, Wilkes, Rita Skeeter, Derrick, Terrence Higgs, Montague, two of the new recruits: Adrian Pucey and Millicent Bulstrode, Abigail Kent and…" Rabastan trailed off. He could almost feel his Master shaking in pure rage.
The Dark Mark flared to life momentarily.
Tom Marvolo Riddle was not a man who could be easily surprised but the mysterious death of twenty of his Death Eaters, in his OWN MANSION, no less, was bringing him to his limits. Some of them had been at his service for years, the best of the best when it came to executing his orders perfectly. Masterminds in their own right, damnit! He needed them for this war! This was tearing a hole through his plans. How did they die? Who the HELL would dare kill them? Who would be suicidal enough to infiltrate his domain? The image of the Potter boy flashed in his mind briefly but it was almost impossible to believe. Amazingly enough, he didn't carry on with his thoughts of killing Rabastan just to vent some of his anger. His Death Eater rank was decimated enough as it is.
"That'ss sseventeen people, Lestrange." It was not meant to be a question, merely a more than annoyed statement.
The bowing man winced, a thing that did not go unnoticed. "The last three are going to pose a problem, my Lord. Pen, Brahms and…Greyback. The Werewolf community trusted us with them. How can we tell them that two of their best members are dead along with their leader?"
"CRUCIOOOO!"
"ARGHHHHHH!"
Okay, maybe not kill him, but the Cruciatus did help appease his fury, if only momentarily.
Damnit, if he named them Death Eaters it was not so they could die!
"Where and how did they die? Did you find anything or anyone susspiciousss?"
Rabastan was on the verge of unconsciousness when Riddle ended the curse. "N-no," he spoke up with a faint voice. "Salon n-next to the conference r-room. M-Mulciber investigating…" The man fell unconscious after babbling the most important parts his Lord needed to hear.
Tom strode briskly out of the room and swatted his bowing Death eaters aside in the corridor. "Out of my way you imbeciles! Do something useful and tighten the security at once! Malfoy, both of you! Don't just stand there, go with them!"
Lucius and Draco jumped nervously and allowed their pride to be crushed when their Lord dismissed them so easily. Draco watched with rapt attention as Voldemort disappeared down the hallway and turned to his father who was busy giving orders to the others so they wouldn't be punished for disobedience. "Father, what do you think happened? It must be grave if He's that agitated. I've never seen Him so furious before, except when he learned of Potte-"
SLAP!
The younger Malfoy held his now burning cheek with one hand and cowered in front of his father. "You do NOT mention that name here! Have you forgotten what I have thought you, boy? You are but a new recruit here! You do not ask about our Lord's business, it is his alone to know! If he feels magnanimous he might tell us but you do not try to meddle in his affairs! Do you understand?" Lucius whispered harshly to his son, who nodded quickly in response. "Good. Now, take Stone with you and bring Lestrange back to his room. It wouldn't do well for the Dark Lord to see him still lying there when he comes back."
Draco nodded and urged Pierre Stone too follow him. Lucius went back to his work.
………
"Sso Mulciber, what iss going on?" Tom walked imperiously in the laboratory and sneered as soon as he saw the twenty bodies lying on the work tables.
Mulciber lifted his head from the many jars of potion. "I'm still analyzing the blood of the victims and everything they ate and drank."
"Can't you work any faster? Crucio!"
"ARGHHHHH!"
Tom eyed the bubbling potions littering the table and carelessly ended the curse.
"I-I'm sorry, my Lord! B-but I'm not a Potions Master! These things t-take time! Forgive my slowness!" Mulciber begged while trying to get back to the potions.
Voldemort's eyes became full of repugnance. "If only that half-blood traitor was still here! Severus Snape, I would kill him right on the spot! I'm one Potions Master short! Mulciber!"
The addressed man jumped and tried to regain his unsteady grip on a bottle full of red liquid when the Dark Lord snapped at him. "Yes my Lord?" he rushed out.
"I want a conclusive report in one hour! No more, no less! If you fail to get me the results I will make sure that your family does not recognize you when I send you home!"
"YesmyLord!" he let out in one breath, bowing as low as he could while Voldemort strode out.
Mulciber let out the breath he'd been holding and winced at every move; the Cruciatus had done quite a number on him.
"The Master was seriously angry. I pity you, Mulciber."
Said man turned toward one of the Death Eaters who guarded the lab. "I'm an Imperius Specialist, Goyle, not a Potions Master. But since the traitor isn't here someone has to do all the dirty work. I received an Exceed Expectations in Potions, not an Outstanding! I can't work any faster than this and you are not helping! Go back to your post or the Master will have my hide!" he snapped, both out of anger and nervousness.
Goyle, the father of Gregory Goyle, lifted an eyebrow stupidly and went back to guard duty.
Mulciber turned to his work table again, muttering all the while. "Stupid idiot. All muscles but not brains to back them up. What a waste of talent. I don't know how Malfoy can endure Crabbe and Goyle around him all the time. His son's got the same entourage, now that I think of it…"
………
"My Lord, we have tightened the security in and out of the mansion, as well as the posts outside Little Hangleton. The outer part of the Forbidden Forest is, unfortunately, inaccessible. Our ward experts told us that Dumbledore has most likely, with the help of the remaining Aurors, strengthened and lengthened the protective and anti-apparition wards around the school. David Hugh was killed when he tried to apparate in the forest and Macnair didn't escape unscathed. Before we gave him a healing and then sleeping potion he said that there were hundreds of spiders looming the area. We think they are Acromantulas, one of many of the half-giant's…pets."
Voldemort processed the information and waved at Lucius to get back to his rank without a word. "Tempus." The time appeared in front of him as soon as he waved his wand.
"MY LORD!"
"Hm, right on time. Not bad, Mulciber."
The man ran in the room, panting and clutching a vial in his hand. "My Lord! I have the results! But I don't think-"
"I did not employ you to think, Mulciber. Now speak! Who is responsible for this carnage?"
Mulciber trembled and kneeled on the ground, refusing to look as his Master right in the eyes; he wasn't crazy, he knew what would happen when he told the results to Voldemort. "Master, some of the bodies showed signs of strangulation, as if something had coiled around them tightly, breaking their air supply. I also noticed the bumps and fractured skulls as if something had stricken some of them with something hard. But not all people showed these signs, so I analyzed the victims' blood and the food they consumed. I made the tests many times and it always came out the same. I did not want to believe it but then I checked the bodies and found the necessary proof: bite marks. Both the blood analysis and food analysis showed traces of venom. Snake venom. I apologize for my impudence, my Lord, but the only snake we see everyday around the mansion and shows signs o intelligence is yours."
Tom's eyes widened, and then narrowed into dangerous slits. The magic in the air became tangible. Mulciber wanted to get sick: he could almost taste it and it sickened him. One could only take so much dark magic at the same time. The others kneeling behind him shivered.
The Dark Lord began to hiss long and low. Nothing happened. The Death Eaters were normally in awe of such a talent but now they just wanted to get out of there. The hissing made them feel uncomfortable. VERY uncomfortable.
The hissing soon became loud and clipped, threatening, murderous.
Nothing.
Voldemort's red eyes became almost black.
The Death Eaters, for the first time ever, ran away without being ordered to.
Something was going to happen.
They had to get out of there.
They didn't want to die.
Voldemort either didn't see them run away in his rage or simply didn't care right now.
A dark aura was unleashed.
The room and everything in it disintegrated.
Except for one person, who stood in the middle of the destruction.
"NAGINIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
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A good fifteen pages, not bad for someone who hasn't written in a couple of months. I hope you don't find the idea of Nagini single-handedly killing twenty Death Eaters a little over the board. The way I see it, she's a cunning "little" thing. Plus she's protected by Harry's magic and is a magical snake. She also got hurt by Greyback: she might be large and measure 8 feet long, snakes are still very sensitive when you squeeze them. And Greyback had the strength in him to do it.
I thank everyone who has been supportive towards my father's situation. I'm greatly pleased to announce that he can now walk without the help of a cane. If you remember, I told everyone that his entire right side had paralyzed after a health problem so you can all imagine how happy I am.
I'm sorry I didn't update sooner but I do worry about my dad even if he's better, plus I have school and a lot of homework, projects and exams right now. I'll have to read my story over again to get back in it but I won't stop it. Please be patient, I love this story to death but I do have a life.
I can't give you an exact date of my next update but I'll try to do it as soon as humanely possible.
I don't want to receive any bad or offensive comments because I didn't update sooner. Some people tend to become nasty in their reviews when I don't show signs of updating. I will not stop the story, so stop worrying for nothing.
REVIEW IF YOU LIKE THE STORY!
DON'T REVIEW IF YOU DON'T! (Yet if you've read it this far I assume you like it!)
'till next time and remember that I love you all!
Eternal Cosmos