Hi everyone!
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Have a nice day,
Perhentian
oOoOoOo
Chapter 21 - May 1995
Hogwarts was considered impenetrable. The safest place in the magical United Kingdom. And with Albus Dumbledore as its Headmaster, Lord Voldemort had always feared to enter Hogwarts without a good cover, or a whole army of Death Eaters. But he needed to check the Diadem. And then to kill the Mudblood, Potter and both Weasleys. Consequences be damned.
The only problem was to get into Hogwarts. It was easy for the Mudblood and the others to go back and forth, they were registered as Hogwarts' students. But for him, whom Dumbledore had banished from the castle in the sixties… it had already been difficult enough when he had come to observe the Triwizard Tournament with Lucius, and the Castle had then been opened to outside visitors!
But Hogwarts was not beyond his reach. After all, he was the heir of Salazar Slytherin, and Slytherin had been cunning enough to ensure his blood would always be able to access the castle. There even was a fairly complex network of underground tunnels between the Chamber of Secrets and several places just outside Hogwarts to facilitate that.
Lord Voldemort was standing right next to one of those tunnels, probing the wards around the castle. Because even with the physical passage, it was still nearly impossible to breach the castle wards. It would take weeks, perhaps even months, to get around Hogwarts defences properly.
There was only one thing he could do without losing too much time: manipulate the wards so they would consider him as a registered external visitor. It had a very annoying drawback however. His presence will be traced. Not namely, he could get rid of that, but still: if he used any kind of forbidden magic, Dumbledore would be immediately warned. And Lord Voldemort was far from stupid enough to try to duel Dumbledore inside Hogwarts. Even so, he did not really have other viable options…
Minutes later Lord Voldemort was walking through the tunnel, and smiled coldly when Hogwarts wards did nothing to stop him. He emerged in the secret rooms behind the statue of Salazar Slytherin in the Chamber of Secrets. He did not linger, and was about to leave, when he finally chose to spent a few seconds to check on the Basilisk.
She was still asleep in her nest, and he decided on a whim to wake her up. She would be perfect to easily kill Potter and his acolytes, without warning Dumbledore in any way. Lord Voldemort raised his wand and began casting, but soon encountered an unexpected resistance.
His fury even managed to shake the walls of the Chamber of Secrets. There was a second stasis spell affecting the Basilisk, on top of his own. And he was willing to bet it was somehow linked to his four enemies. Once more Potter's unexpected ability to speak Parseltongue must have allowed him to break in somewhere he should have never been allowed to be, and once again that damned Mudblood must have used her far too broad magical knowledge to get on his way.
Lord Voldemort stepped aside from the Basilisk. The diadem was his priority. He would wake the Basilisk later.
oOoOoOo
Harry suddenly stood up, and Hermione noticed that his hand was once again jumping to his scar. It did not hurt him anymore, but it was still somehow active when Voldemort's emotions were extreme.
"He's not calming down," Harry indicated.
They were in Gryffindor Common Room, having been woken up in the middle of the night by Harry, who had been feeling a lot of anger coming from Voldemort.
"Perhaps I should use the link and have a more detailed look," Harry proposed.
"Don't," Ginny said.
But her answer was far less firm than the previous times. An angry Voldemort was not unusual, but one that was so consistently furious for several hours was another matter altogether.
"I already hate Samhain, and I feel like I'm soon going to hate Beltane also," Harry sighed. "It can only be the Horcruxes…"
"It may be something else," Hermione amended. "It's Beltane's night, perhaps he has somehow managed to badly botch some ritual…"
But deep down Hermione knew that Harry was probably right.
"He's here," Ron suddenly said.
"What?" Hermione exclaimed.
It was impossible. Voldemort could not enter Hogwarts like that. The castle was supposed to be inaccessible to him!
Ron quickly showed them the Marauder's Map version two, and pointed a dot coming out of the second floor girls' lavatory. The dot was unnamed, so it could theoretically be anyone, but no one had been wandering in the hallways for the past couple of hours, and on top of that the charms to conceal a name from an artefact as powerful as Harry's map was not something a lot of wizards could manage.
"He's coming from the Chamber. Do you think he has the Basilisk with him?" Ginny asked.
"No," Hermione answered. "I would have been at least alerted if he had managed to break the stasis spell I put on it. And this new version of the map shows even the house-elves, so the Basilisk would probably have appeared on it also."
Still, the tension did not really ease.
"He's moving towards the Room of Requirement," Harry indicated.
"What should we do?" Ron asked.
It was obvious that Harry had been right, that Voldemort had somehow realized that his Horcruxes were missing. And if he was in Hogwarts, it meant he had already checked all the others. The Ring in Little Hangleton. The Locket in the cave – and the so wonderful message left in its copy by Regulus Black –. The Cup in Gringotts. The Diary he had entrusted Lucius Malfoy with, meaning Lucius Malfoy was probably dead right now.
It was a disaster. A heavy blow. Voldemort now knew that the secret of his Horcruxes had been uncovered. If they did not kill him, he would create new ones. Or maybe he would even look into other ways to secure his immortality. But they could not kill him now. Because Harry was still an Horcrux.
"I'm going to kill myself with the Sword of Gryffindor so you can go and kill him," Harry said.
Ginny was the fastest to react, and promptly slapped Harry, nearly knocking him to the ground.
"Don't you dare do that!" she yelled.
"It won't work anyway," Hermione pointed out. "Nagini's still alive and she is probably under high protection at Slytherin Castle. The best we can do is to reduce Voldemort to his spectral form again."
"What is Luna doing out of her dorm?" Ron suddenly said with clear panic in his voice.
They all turned to look at the map again, and indeed a small dot named "Luna Lovegood" had just come out of Ravenclaw Tower.
"She must have felt his presence," Ginny said. "She had always said in our previous life that his magic had felt to her like some kind of disturbance."
Because of course they would be unlucky enough to have Luna woken up by Voldemort's magic.
"She's probably trying to warn someone," Ron said.
"She's more likely to go see by herself what's happening," Hermione refuted. "She has no reason to suspect anything like Voldemort being inside Hogwarts…"
And that was the real issue now.
"We may still reach Voldemort before Luna," Harry pointed out.
He quickly grabbed the map, and Hermione started to concentrate to force as many shortcuts as possible in their path.
oOoOoOo
When Lord Voldemort found out that even the Diadem had disappeared, his fury reached new heights. How dare they? How could they? Thank Merlin he still had Nagini. But he stopped short at that thought. They knew for Nagini. That's why they had used her as a bargaining chip to rescue Hermione and her parents. That was why they had known he would care enough for her. But how could they have known? He had created Nagini after his resurrection, and he had made sure to do so with the utmost discretion!
He left the Room of Hidden Things, and immediately identified another presence in the dark hallway. He would almost have not been surprised to discover that the Mudblood and her friends were there, but it was instead a young blond girl who was looking at him with big, surprised eyes.
"Who are you?" she asked with some kind of strange deference in her voice.
Immediately his wand was on her neck and the girl froze completely. If he had had more time – and if he had been less furious –, he would have wondered what she was doing out of her dorm in the middle of the night, but right now he needed information.
"Are Hermione Granger and Harry Potter in the castle tonight?"
"Why are you asking?" the girl asked, wide-eyed.
Lord Voldemort pushed his wand deeper into her neck, just enough to draw blood, and the girl let out a cry of pain.
"Let go of her!"
Voldemort immediately grabbed the blond girl and placed her between himself and Potter that had just emerged from a nearby corridor, quickly followed by both Weasleys and the Mudblood. If he could not fight the four of them here without alerting Dumbledore, he could still very easily use the helpless girl as a hostage without triggering any alarms.
"Luna!" the Weasley girl called out. "By Merlin why did you come out of your dorm?"
"There were Wrackspurts everywhere and…"
"Silence," Lord Voldemort ordered icily.
Only the knowledge that he may lose a duel against Dumbledore and his four enemies at the same time prevented him from immediately casting several Avada Kedavra.
oOoOoOo
The silence had never felt so deadly. Even the first time they had faced him in Slytherin Castle the atmosphere had not been as lethal as now. And having Luna in the middle of that… Voldemort could easily kill her on a whim.
They had to defuse the situation urgently and Hermione felt her thoughts turning furiously in her head, while trying to supress the memory of what she had done the last time she had seen Voldemort from popping-up in her head. It was clearly not the right moment for that.
"Let her go, she has nothing to do with any of this," Harry said calmly.
Hermione nearly jumped when the whole hallway shook, and Voldemort's fury could even be tasted in the air around them. Hermione noticed from the corner of her eye Ginny casting several discretion spells to protect their discussion.
"You have executed a ritual using… far too precious objects," Voldemort accused, addressing Hermione.
He was purely terrifying in his cold fury, and Hermione simply nodded. It was useless to lie about it. He probably knew already exactly which ritual she had used. And she did not want to know what he would do to Luna if he detected the slightest lie in their answers.
"Which ones?" Voldemort asked, his voice promising thousand deaths.
Hermione took a deep breath before answering, her right hand tightly gripping her wand in case things went south. She was convinced it was only a matter of time before their conversation would degenerate in a deadly duel. Probably when she would admit having used all the Horcruxes he knew about.
The only positive point was that Voldemort had no way to know that the founders' relics and the Resurrection Stone had not been destroyed, as the ritual was supposed to consume them, and they would be able to still keep them.
"The Diary, the Ring, the Locket, the Cup and the Diadem," Hermione finally answered.
She distinctly saw the moment when he – wrongly – understood that for a few moments, before the creation of Nagini, he had been mortal. That he could have died.
"You dared…" Voldemort hissed. "You dared to destroy them all."
His wand sank deeper into Luna's neck and she uttered a strangled scream of pain. Then Voldemort moved his wand out of her neck, but only to start a spell.
"No!" Ginny stepped in. "Don't hurt her!"
They needed to find a way, any way, to calm him enough to get Luna out of there.
"You dared to destroy something that was quite dear to me, I'm only returning you the favour," Voldemort answered.
"What do you want in exchange for Luna's life?" Ron tried.
Voldemort glare could nearly kill.
"I will kill her," he promised. "And then I will kill you all."
And his wand started to move again.
"Stop," Harry asked. "Stop. It's not… We haven't destroyed them all. You still had one."
Hermione tensed. She would have preferred not to go there, not to have to reveal to Voldemort his accidental Horcrux. But this information was worth far less than Luna's life, and perhaps one of the only things that may calm him, at least due to its unexpectedness.
"Are you taking me for a fool?" Voldemort said threateningly. "The list was exhaustive, or perhaps you are implying that you have lied to me?"
He was facing Hermione again.
"She hasn't lied," Ron assured.
"Then that was all of them," Voldemort said.
"No, that wasn't. There is one that you were never aware of. One you have created involuntarily," Hermione explained.
Voldemort's wand lowered very slightly as he seemed to finally consider what they were saying.
oOoOoOo
Lord Voldemort looked at Hermione Granger. She was not lying. He could feel she was not lying. But…
"It is not possible to create one involuntarily," he pointed out. "It is not something that I could have created without being aware of it. Not without…"
His gaze turned sharply to Harry Potter. He had killed that night, just before trying to kill his prophesied enemy. Lily Potter's corpse had been just next to the crib. And whatever strange phenomenon that had saved Potter's life that night may have been strong enough to splinter his soul as it was leaving his body…
Lord Voldemort stared at the scar that his spell had left. A very strange and very magical scar. How could he not have suspected it earlier? The strange feeling he had noticed when being near Potter was indeed strangely familiar to what he was feeling near Nagini. And that explained why Potter was a Parselmouth.
Harry Potter was his Horcrux. It was completely improbable and yet it was true, he was certain of it. It was also why Potter had often avoided confrontations, hiding behind his friends. Voldemort had long thought it was because Potter was too cowardly to face him, but he now knew that there had been a far more valid reason for that.
"You don't know how to remove it without killing him," Lord Voldemort understood.
Their silence was confirmation enough and it slightly lessened his fury.
Then he realized something else. He could not kill Potter anymore. Not until he found another way to conquer death without using Horcruxes. He had Nagini on top of Potter, of course. But they knew for Nagini. And there was probable only Potter that they would care enough for not to kill in their quest to kill him. Fortunately, he would soon have something else to work with, because he now knew with certainty that they had the Philosopher's Stone. After all, it was needed to perform the ritual they had used...
"Give me the Philosopher's Stone," he demanded.
"The stone against Luna," the Weasley dared to negotiate.
"Give me the Stone, and then perhaps I'll be merciful enough to discuss the fate of the girl with you," he answered disdainfully.
That was is main advantage over people like Potter and the Mudblood. Their willingness to let go of the Philosopher's Stone for something as useless as the blond girl he was still threatening. The Mudblood opened the beaded bag she always had with her and cast several high-complexity spells before plunging her hand into it, and gently retrieving the ruby-red stone.
"Let Luna go," she said. "We won't give you the Stone otherwise."
Potter may be his Horcrux, but her, he was going to kill her as soon as he could. She was the one behind the ritual that had destroyed his Horcruxes. She had dared to destroy his Diary, his Ring, his Locket, his Cup and his Diadem with her impure hands. She was a far too dangerous opponent to be left alive.
"I want a vow that you will erase this evening from her memory," Lord Voldemort demanded.
Hermione Granger's eyes narrowed and Lord Voldemort knew he had not formulated his demand with enough caution.
"You've entered Hogwarts as an outside visitor," she indeed understood.
And she sharply pointed her wand at him, but he stopped her with a disdainful wave of his hand and a smirk.
"Not too fast Hermione," he said, enunciating her name with great disdain. "There are a lot of spells an outside visitor can still cast that will not trigger any alarms, but could very well kill someone. When you think about what a mere
that could be lethal with some imagination. Think about what a mere Expulso curse could do…"
oOoOoOo
Hermione paled visibly and unconsciously slightly lowered her wand. A mere Expulso curse. Did he remember that was how Quirrell had died? Had he made the connection between the fact that they had the Philosopher's Stone and the fight that had opposed them at the end of her first year?
"Fine, we'll erase her memories of the evening," Hermione agreed.
Not like she had a choice. She was pretty sure Voldemort had enough imagination to kill with the simplest spells.
"Before that, tell me how you knew about my… prized possessions," Voldemort ordered.
He was still refusing to say the incriminating word out loud, even if they had agreed to memory charm Luna. And he was trying to get as much out of them as he could while he still had Luna, as he would be pretty defenceless without her standing between them. Without being able to use his extensive range of spells he would be no match for the four of them, and Hermione wondered briefly how he was planning to get away from there alive after letting Luna go.
"No," Ron answered firmly. "And if you do anything to Luna we won't give you the Stone."
Voldemort seemed to radiate rage, and his gaze wavered between Ron and the Philosopher's Stone still in Hermione's hand.
"We're the only ones aware that you've created your... prized possessions," Hermione said, hoping to appease him. "No one else knows. And the vow currently prevents us from talking about it to anyone."
Regulus Black was dead. Kreacher had never really understood what he had in his hands. Slughorn had known that Tom Riddle was interested by the subject, but he had never known for sure that his former student had actually made one, never mind several. And Dumbledore had doubts at best, but not certainties.
It seemed to calm Voldemort, if only slightly.
"The veracity of what you have just said will be include in the vow," Voldemort demanded.
"Very well."
They all stared at each other tensely, before Ron spoke up and offered a wording for the vow. That Voldemort disregarded completely to propose another one, more restrictive and downright devious. It started a quite exasperating duel of propositions and counter-propositions, but Ron and Voldemort managed to agree on a wording in the end, without anyone being hurt in the meantime.
At long last Voldemort released his grip on Luna, and Ginny immediately went a few steps forward to grab their friend and pushed her back behind them. At the same time, Hermione dropped the Philosopher's Stone in Voldemort's outstretched hand. She then switched to a duelling posture, but before she had the time to even start a spell Voldemort vanished with a thunderous noise.
"Huh?" she uttered in a total lack of eloquence.
"What has he done?" Ginny asked with disbelief.
"Apparated away it seems," Ron said.
"You cannot Apparate inside Hogwarts!" Hermione exclaimed forcefully.
"Well, he's not in the castle anymore, so it seems he can," Harry announced, looking at the map.
Hermione leaned over the map, looking at every corner of the castle. It was impossible to Apparate inside Hogwarts' wards. Utterly impossible. But Voldemort's unnamed point was indeed nowhere on the map.
"Dumbledore has just come out of his office," Harry pointed out. "And McGonagall too."
"This bastard has probably triggered the alarms with his exit," Ron said. "Let's not stay here."
The walked away as quickly as possible, before finally stopping in a classroom a few corridors away.
"Are you feeling OK Luna?" Ginny immediately asked, while casting a few healing spells.
"I'm fine, Ginny," Luna answered. "I'm fine."
But she seemed in reality quite shaken.
"Was it... was it him? Lord Voldemort?" Luna asked.
"It was," Hermione confirmed.
Luna simply nodded at this information, before looking straight at Hermione.
"I'm ready," she said. "Do what you must."
"I'm sorry," Hermione apologized. "But the terms of the vow are too precise to give me any leeway in erasing your memory only partially."
"It's fine, it was my fault anyway," Luna answered. "I did not think that… I mean, I shouldn't have go. But his magic… it's kind of captivating, isn't it?"
Hermione had no answer to this.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Luna continued. "Against him?"
Her gaze shifted from Hermione to Ron, then Ginny, to finally stop on Harry.
"That's... thank you Luna," Harry said, visibly quite touched. "But it won't be necessary. Voldemort is our problem."
"Fine," Luna easily agreed. "But you should know that even though we are less talented than you, Neville and I are always ready to help you."
"Thank you Luna," Hermione answered. "Neville and you are the best friends anyone can dream of."
Luna seemed surprised by this, and Hermione felt a pang of emotion for her friend's lack of self-confidence.
"Obliviate," Hermione finally cast.
A white light surrounded Luna and Hermione focused on the memories she wanted to change. A few minutes later it was done, and Hermione put Luna to sleep.
"Let's bring her back to her dorm," she said. "She won't remember anything of this night when she will wake up tomorrow."
The others nodded and they set off.
"Do you think Dumbledore will understand that Voldemort has been in the castle tonight?" Harry asked on their way back. "He and McGonagall are probably already investigating the signal."
"They won't be able to identify who it was," Hermione answered. "I doubt they will even find anything conclusive, and they will probably classify it without any follow-up."
"This whole situation is bad," Ginny sighed.
"And it's going to be worse soon, I guarantee it," Ron said darkly.
oOoOoOo
Lord Voldemort stopped a hundred meters from his destination. He was furious. All his Horcruxes had been destroyed. Except for Nagini and Potter. By Salazar, Harry Potter was his Horcrux. If he had not been so furious he would have found it deliciously ironic. But he had more urgent matters to settle. And his current target was known to be quite cunning. He could not just barge inside his house without risking to see him disappear immediately, even if the sun had barely risen.
With a sharp wand motion Lord Voldemort made himself completely invisible, before approaching the house. It was well protected. Several layered wards, with some hidden charms to alert the owner if anyone was trying to bypass them. But Lord Voldemort was not the most talented wizard alive for nothing, and a few minutes later the original wards were down, and his own wards were now circling the place, preventing anyone from living the house without his consent.
Then he removed the invisibility charms and confidently entered Horace Slughorn's house without even bothering to change his appearance. From the entrance he moved first to the living room. Horace, surprisingly already awake, noticed him immediately, and showing more alertness than Lord Voldemort would have thought possible from his former teacher, pointed his wand at him and cast a spell.
"Riddikulus!"
For a few seconds Lord Voldemort simply stood there as the spell flew towards him, before bursting into laughter.
"Am I your greatest fear now, Horace? How interesting…" he commented. "After all, have you not at some point considered me the greatest asset of your collection?"
Horace Slughorn finally seemed to realize he was not a Boggart, but the real Lord Voldemort, and his wand shook slightly as Voldemort's eyes observed his surroundings. Unsurprisingly, the living room of his former teacher was a showroom. Gifts of alumni, photos, autographs of famous people...
"Ah, but I see that you still kept a picture of me, Professor," Lord Voldemort said mockingly while looking at the mantel of the fireplace.
It was a photo of him during his last year at Hogwarts, his head boy badge shining on his chest. A perfectly preserved photo, placed in the centre of the mantelpiece, clearly visible. Further proof that Horace Slughorn had always been just a little too fascinated by his student for it to be perfectly healthy.
"What do you want from me?" Horace Slughorn asked.
He had not dared to throw a second spell at him, probably knowing he was no match for Lord Voldemort.
"I've come to make sure my secrets stay exactly that, secret," Voldemort said with false nonchalance.
Horace Slughorn paled.
"You would not have dared to talk about our little discussion about Horcruxes, Horace, would you?" Voldemort asked.
His former professor paled further.
"I have not said a word about it," he assured him hurriedly. "Never."
Voldemort could feel he was not lying.
"And I won't say anything," Horace Slughorn continued. "This conversation never happened."
"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Voldemort said coldly. "Not to have to live with the knowledge that you have discussed such dark magic with Lord Voldemort... What would all you famous friends say if they knew?"
His former teacher now seemed about to throw up, and Voldemort smiled cruelly. He would have created his Horcruxes even without Horace Slughorn's help. He would have found the information elsewhere without too much trouble. Still, he was enjoying Slughorn's shame.
"Legilimens," Lord Voldemort cast.
Slughorn tried to avoid his spell, but of course he was too slow, and the next moment Lord Voldemort was in his mind, rummaging through the memories to find everything that could link him to Horcruxes. Dumbledore had several times questioned Slughorn about what he knew of Tom Riddle. And Lord Voldemort smirked haughtily when he saw that indeed, Horace Slughorn had never told Dumbledore about their conversation.
As for Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and both Weasleys, Horace Slughorn had never even met them. Neither them nor their aliases. And no one else had ever asked him any questions about Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort or Horcruxes.
Lord Voldemort came out of Horace Slughorn's mind and immediately erased Slughorn's memory of the Horcruxes discussion. He should have done this a long time ago, but he had had at some point a kind of soft spot for Horace Slughorn, who with his impressive network had one day opened many doors for him. But now he no longer had the same qualms.
He exited the house a few seconds later, and walked furiously in a random direction. If they had not obtained this information from Slughorn, then how could his four enemies have known about his Horcruxes? It was ridiculous. Or perhaps Dumbledore knew? But the Mudblood had asserted under vow that they were the only ones to know about his Horcruxes. Had they learnt about them from someone who had since died? But who? Regulus Black? But Regulus died before any of them were born.
In his fury Lord Voldemort blew up a house on his right, and the cries of terror that ensued sounded divine to his ears. Maybe that was what he should do. Destroy a few villages to avenge the affront. Or destroy the building of the Ministry of Magic... Or perhaps Gringotts.
Voldemort forcefully pushed these thoughts out of his head. He would act on them later. There was still one thing he had to check right now. When he had faced his four enemies he had noticed something out of the ordinary. Potter was not using the same wand as usual. He knew the Mudblood had two wands, and he suspected that the others also, but they had always used the same wand in front of him.
He had a feeling that it was accidental. That Potter had use this wand by reflex, meaning that this wand was his main one, and not the one Voldemort had previously seen. Which was quite strange. His four enemies were not good enough to face him with wands that were not the bests without a good reason. He needed more information about Harry Potter's main wand.
oOoOoOo
Garrick Ollivander delicately smelled the apple tree branch in front of him, and put the unicorn hair closer to it. Yes, the combination would make a good wand. An old apple tree, with the hair of a young unicorn. A lot of flexibility, and without a doubt a good wand for charms. He ran his fingers along the wood, identifying the different knots, before stopping suddenly. Someone had just entered his shop.
It was rare for wizards to visit his shop outside the summer months, but it happened. Wizards sometimes broke their wands. Or their wands got lost, no longer adapted to the wizards.
Ollivander carefully put the apple tree branch on his work desk and headed to the front of his shop. He froze as soon as he saw his visitor. Tom Riddle. The Dark Lord Voldemort. He was perfectly recognizable, although he appeared to be just over thirties while Garrick had sold him his wand over fifty years ago.
"What can I do for you, my Lord?" he asked with deference.
He had no reason to upset a wizard who had visibly come back from the dead, and who seemed even more powerful than before.
"What is Harry Potter's wand made of?" The Dark Lord asked.
Garrick Ollivander felt an icy chill run down his back.
"Speak Ollivander," Lord Voldemort ordered, "or I'll make you."
It was unfortunately true. The Dark Lord was known to be an excellent Legilimens. The very best even.
"Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches," Ollivander answered.
The Dark Lord narrowed his eyes with clear annoyance.
"Details," he demanded.
He already knew there was something special about Harry Potter's wand, Garrick could feel it. Still, he did not answer. The Dark Lord moved closer, until he was right in front of him. Garrick feared his heart was simply going to stop right there. The white wand of the Dark Lord, the wand that he had himself sold to the terrifying wizard, was now pointed straight at him. How many people had this wand tortured? How many people had this wand killed?
"Crucio."
Pain. Throughout his whole body. Everywhere. As if he was on fire. As if he was dying again and again.
"Speak," Voldemort ordered when he finally lifted the curse.
Garrick resigned himself. There may still be a small chance that the Dark Lord would not understand the consequences of what he was going to reveal to him.
"The Phoenix feather," he said weakly. "It comes from the same Phoenix as yours."
But to his dismay the Dark Lord understood immediately.
"Priori Incantatem," he said, seemingly lost in thoughts. "This may explain his reluctance... And it makes sense, of course, that Potter would have a twin wand to mine…"
He had spat the name with intense loathing.
"I'll need a new wand Ollivander, immediately," he ordered.
"Of course," Garrick Ollivander whispered.
It took him about ten tries to find an acacia wand that seemed to satisfy Lord Voldemort. The next moment the Dark Lord pointed his main wand at him again and he was blinded by a white light.
Garrick Ollivander looked at the apple tree branch just in front of him. He frowned for a moment. He had just lost the thread of his thoughts and this never happened to him when he was creating new wands. He ran a slightly trembling hand along the wood. Something had happened, he was sure of it, even if he did not know what. He let out a sigh and concentrated again. He was a mere wand maker, and he would continue his work until he could no longer perform it. All the rest was of secondary importance.
oOoOoOo
Albus Dumbledore read Minerva, Filius, Pomona and Severus reports about the previous night incident a second time. Something had disrupted Hogwarts' wards, and none of them had managed to identify what. But Albus had suspicions. The power required to disrupt Hogwarts' wards was something only few wizards possessed. Gellert would have been able to, but Gellert was still in Nurmengard. Meaning it was very probably Voldemort.
Had Tom tried to breach the wards to enter Hogwarts? This thought was worrying. Albus really needed to find a way to counter the dark wizard quickly, but he had nothing more than ideas for the moment. He did not know if Voldemort had really created an Horcrux. Nor when.
Still, it was currently his best bet, and it was time for Albus to focus more on it. He would have to start a list of all the potential artefacts Tom could have used, and he knew it would take him a few weeks to have a relevant list. And after that, he would still need to find where Voldemort could have hidden his Horcrux. Or perhaps it was Horcruxes? Voldemort was arrogant enough to try to have several after all...
oOoOoOo
AN: Next chapter in two weeks.
