Chapter 3: Polar Night
Narcissa kept her face in Bella's hair as she rode behind her on her broom. It did little to keep the frigid air from eating at her ears, and Narcissa grew concerned when she no longer felt them. She didn't dare check her fingers. They started to feel warm, which Narcissa knew was not a good sign.
The sun had already been dim and low in Bergen. A combination of the advancing hour and latitude put it below the horizon behind them. Once it disappeared, it was like the temperature dropped another ten degrees. The wind grew stronger. Were it not for a nearly-full moon, they would've traveled in complete darkness as well as silence.
When Bella tilted forward on her broom, Narcissa sighed. Other than for her physical discomfort, Narcissa was the exact opposite of happy to have arrived at their destination. She'd hoped to never see this island again. Bella had narrowed an eye about Narcissa staying with Draco and Dagmar after the Dark Lord was fully healed up, but the Dark Lord himself deemed it a reasonable reward for all of their cooperation. That was all that mattered at the end of the day.
Narcissa had done her best not to think about everything that happened that afternoon. She was still in a state of shock after how good the morning was. With Dagmar having finished her exams, she had time to do some baking. Narcissa had developed a liking for it with little else to do on the island, and she'd looked forward to some bonding time with her future daughter-in-law.
It wound up being a family event since Draco and Bella were also there. Narcissa had developed a strong case of the giggles because of Bella and the faces she made whenever anyone around her acted affectionately toward each other. Narcissa and Dagmar had been laughing about Bella's reaction to a bear hug from Draco when Wormtail came in the house to announce that unexpected company was on its way. Dagmar and Draco's faces simultaneously falling and going pale had been the last thing Narcissa saw of them before hiding herself away upstairs.
The sandy beach felt weird under Narcissa's feet. Her balance was shot after several hours in the air. Despite shivering, Narcissa started to sweat. She'd passed through a wall of warmth before landing. Narcissa touched her face. Neither her cheeks or fingers registered the pleasant temperature yet.
Nobody else looked in better shape. Bella rubbed her cheeks, teeth chattering. Corban, Alecto, and Amycus did the same, although Alecto rubbed her arms. With the Dark Lord's hood still drawn, it was hard to tell if he was affected at all.
Narcissa had hoped along the way that she'd only imagined the Dark Lord coming to in Dagmar's body. The Dark Lord was still taller than Narcissa, but not as much as he had been before. Some hair had come loose during travel and caught silver in the moonlight as it trailed out of the hood. The Dark Lord reached up to push it back.
He turned for the path. Everyone else followed, Narcissa falling numbly in step beside Bella. Bella's breath was slightly laboured. She'd started crying to herself, which made it hard for Narcissa to fight doing the same thing. She missed Draco already, and had hardly prepared herself on their journey to deal with a possessed and possibly dead Dagmar.
"What do you think he'll do to me?" Bella whispered under her breath with a sniffle. "Do you think he's angry enough to make me leave?"
Narcissa came to a stop. "That's your big concern?"
Bella looked so sad that all Narcissa could see was red. Some feeling returned to her hand as she slapped Bella hard enough in the face to send her reeling sideways. Not even a grunt of mingled surprise and pain from her sister softened Narcissa. It felt far too good to take her anger and sadness out on the person responsible for this. They'd all successfully hidden. Bella didn't have to alert the Dark Lord that Harry Potter was there. She didn't even have to come back into the house. Narcissa had agreed to find them once their visitors left.
"Cissy, stop!"
Bella's shock waylaid quickly to hostility as Narcissa kept on. Her lip curled and she reached into her robes.
White light illuminated part of Bella's face, pulling her gaze in its direction. Her eyes widened before a beam of it hit her in the shoulder. She stumbled backward, clutching at it with clenched teeth. Narcissa looked back where it had come from. The Dark Lord was lowering his wand.
"Cut it out, Bella," he told her.
"But—"
"I said cut it out," the Dark Lord repeated, tone sharper. "Keep on like that and you'll be sleeping outside tonight."
New tears sprung to Bella's eyes. Her mouth pulled down at the corners before she ducked her chin. Narcissa had no pity for her. She left Bella behind as they all carried on into the woods. Corban, Alecto, and Amycus seemed unfazed about the place. Had they been here before? Did they not see it in the warped and contorted way Wesley did?
Some rustling sounded in the woods up ahead. Right after Narcissa thought about Lys, she peered out from behind one of the trees. She hadn't taken very well at all to Narcissa leaving, following her right to the beach with tears running down her face once she realized what was going on. She hadn't even cared that Bella made constant attempts to shoo her away.
Lys made a little gasp and beelined toward the Dark Lord. Even in near-darkness, Narcissa saw him stiffen when Lys held his shoulders and started chattering animatedly in a series of clicks, whistles, and hisses. It threw Narcissa, since she'd never known Lys to be capable of speech.
She eventually trailed off, her happiness going with it in place of emerging confusion. Lys' hands fell off the Dark Lord and she took a couple steps back. Her eyes widened. She turned and vanished from sight. Some foliage rustled at the side of the path before the sound of her retreat faded away.
"Who or what was that, my Lord?" Amycus cautiously asked.
"Her name is Lys," the Dark Lord answered as they kept on again. "She's a type of wood nymph. There's a water spirit on the island as well. How does the island appear to you? Welcoming, or no?"
"Welcoming, I guess," Alecto was the one to reply.
"You'd know if it wasn't," the Dark Lord said. "Hildegard told me that so long as she's well enough acquainted with someone, that would be the case. As for Lys and Vann, the water spirit, they're both capable of communicating via Legilimency if you're not a Parselmouth or Avembeak. If either are unsure about you, just draw up a mental image of Hildegard. Neither will hurt you if they know you know her."
None of them replied, although looked into the woods toward where Lys had disappeared. Narcissa did too. She would much rather stay out here with Lys than go into the house with everyone else.
The house was dark. Narcissa blinked heavily when the Dark Lord lit up all the torches. She kicked her shoes off along with everyone else, thinking about holing up after starting fires in the keeping and living rooms.
"There'll be a room each for everyone upstairs," the Dark Lord told them. "Narcissa, you can go ahead and take the master."
"Oh—thanks," Narcissa wished she could feign appreciation a bit better than her downcast answer suggested, but the Dark Lord didn't look annoyed when their gazes met.
"I'll need your assistance with something first," he said.
Narcissa forced herself to nod. "Of course."
"What can I do?" Bella asked.
The Dark Lord contorted Dagmar's normally pleasant features into a sneer. "You can get out of my sight."
"Yes, my Lord," Bella replied so quietly that even Narcissa could hardly hear her. Her feet were as heavy as her head as she went upstairs.
"You three go ahead and make yourselves at home," the Dark Lord dismissed Corban, Alecto, and Amycus.
They followed Bella, leaving Narcissa alone with the Dark Lord. Without some kind of buffer, Narcissa found it nearly impossible to actually look at him. It repulsed her to gaze into the face of her daughter-in-law and see someone else looking back out. Narcissa was also horrified at her inability to control her emotions. She brought a hand to her face so that the Dark Lord at least wouldn't have to see her crying. She did her best to keep it quiet, but it was impossible to completely hide her hitching breaths.
The Dark Lord sighed. "Come."
Narcissa followed him down the hallway toward the keeping room. Dagmar's plait swung like a pendulum in the upper peripheral of Narcissa's vision. Even when they came to a stop in front of the fireplace (the Dark Lord lit it with his wand), Narcissa preferred to stare into the tentative flames.
"I didn't want this to happen, nor did I intend for it," the Dark Lord told Narcissa.
Considering that whatever had happened put the Dark Lord into the body of a teenaged girl, Narcissa had no trouble believing that. She'd never seen Bella treated like anything less than the favourite in all the time she'd been this close to the Dark Lord's work. To see Bella unfairly targeted and sent away—not to mention subjected to a Cruciatus Curse earlier—were clear signs of the Dark Lord's disposition.
"I just don't understand." Narcissa's voice was quiet in her attempt to keep it steady. "What happened?"
"Harry Potter hit me with a Killing Curse." The Dark Lord folded his arms. "Dumbledore must have abandoned all his pretence about love conquering all, or whatever tripe he goes on about. Maybe all is acceptable in the pursuit of the greater good."
The Dark Lord made a noise of contempt.
"I'm sorry," Narcissa said when she thought over what he'd said. "How did that bring you. . .here?"
"Into Dagmar's body?" the Dark Lord asked. "In the interest of not repeating myself, I'll spare explanations for when we have a meeting later. I need your help with something time sensitive. Do you have any of those preservation jars left in the kitchen?"
"Er, yeah." Narcissa shakily nodded. "There was a couple left over from when Bella and I put all the food away."
"I need one."
"Yes, my Lord."
Narcissa headed for the cupboard she'd put them up in. There was a loud enough thump behind her against the floor to make her jump. Narcissa's stomach lurched to see that the Dark Lord's old body had reappeared.
"Do you have any sort of kitchen tool suitable for prying things apart?" the Dark Lord asked.
"Like tongs, or. . .?"
"Don't worry about it," the Dark Lord replied. "The sharpest knife will suffice."
Narcissa fetched it along with the jar. When she returned to the keeping room, the Dark Lord reached for the knife.
"What're you doing?" Narcissa hesitantly asked as the Dark Lord kneeled down beside his old body.
The Dark Lord used the knife to cut open the chest of his dead body's robes. "You've been cooking here a lot. Does that mean you're sufficient at following a recipe?"
"I suppose. It's not hard."
"I'll fetch the ingredients for you from the library for a Polyjuice Potion." The Dark Lord glanced up at her. "We're going to test its limits. The body is dead, but maybe, if my soul is not. . ."
Narcissa furrowed her brow, but it didn't stay that way when metal glinted on the Dark Lord's left hand. "Er, my Lord, I could take that if you don't mind."
The Dark Lord stopped, looked up, and then at his hand when Narcissa gestured toward Dagmar's engagement ring. "Yes, perhaps for the best. It's a Black family heirloom, is it not?"
"Yes."
The Dark Lord slipped it off and held it out to Narcissa. She took it with her free hand and fended off a fresh wave of grief as she clenched it in her grip.
"She's dead, then?" Narcissa asked with a furtive wipe at her eyes.
Hesitating, the Dark Lord skimmed Dagmar's fingers down the centre of his old chest. He used the knife to mark it properly with a line in the skin. "I don't know, but I feel alone."
Narcissa held back on making any noise, which only seemed to squeeze more tears out of her.
"We'll sort it out," the Dark Lord said with a grunt of effort as he started cutting deeper. "It's as much in my interest that she's all right as it is yours. If this can be fixed, I intend to return her in her original condition."
"Okay," Narcissa managed, then added as an afterthought, "my Lord."
Narcissa grew squeamish as the Dark Lord's cuts went deeper with each pass. The crispy sound of ribs being cut made her almost lightheaded. Under guise of getting her emotions under control, Narcissa migrated away to one of the windows. It was too dark outside for her to see anything but a reflection of the interior. The bulk of the fireplace blocked sight of what the Dark Lord was doing.
Her nausea nearly progressed to a retch when Narcissa heard ribs snapping. She focused on getting that under control until the Dark Lord spoke her name. Narcissa hesitantly turned around. The Dark Lord's hands were stained red, and some of the thick blood dripped to the floor. He held a small mass toward her.
"The jar," the Dark Lord prompted her.
Narcissa forced herself to step closer. She had to hold her face straight when the Dark Lord let his old heart slide out of his hand into it.
"Put it in the ice box." The Dark Lord wiped his hands off on his old body. "It'll need to keep until the Polyjuice Potion is finished."
Fighting the urge to toss in the sink, Narcissa closed the jar and moved things about in the ice box so that it could sit toward the back. She made a mental note to throw away the knife that the Dark Lord had used, as well as this jar once it was empty again.
"Go upstairs and fetch Yaxley and the Carrows," the Dark Lord told Narcissa.
"Not Bella?"
"No."
More than happy to leave this grisly scene behind, Narcissa headed instead through the proper dining room. In the living room, she heard footsteps through the ceiling. She furrowed her brow, for there had never been rooms on this side of the second storey.
Sure enough, the stairs were no longer flush with the wall. They came up to the centre of the top landing. There were three doors like usual down the one side, and now three more directly opposite them. There was also one more that mirrored where Wes' usually showed up.
That one and the two closer doors were open. Alecto noticed Narcissa first. She came over to her room's door frame. "We figured the one at the end there was the master."
She pointed her jaw back toward it. Narcissa cleared her throat. "The Dark Lord wants you three to come downstairs."
While Corban and Amycus gathered themselves back up to join Narcissa and Alecto at the top of the stairs, the door for the old bedroom Narcissa used to sleep in creaked open. Bella's tear-stained face appeared in the crack.
Narcissa narrowed her eyes at her. "Specifically not you."
Bella closed her door again, quieter than she'd opened it. Alecto turned thick, raised eyebrows back to Narcissa and dropped her voice. "I've never seen him mad at her like that before."
"Me neither," Narcissa whispered back. "Don't blame him. Dead from the neck up, that one. I don't feel sorry for her at all."
"I guess not, huh?" Alecto rested her elbow on the staircase's top post. "What's the scoop on your daughter-in-law?"
Narcissa shrugged. "The Dark Lord said we'll have a meeting to discuss things."
Alecto idly nodded before carrying on down to the foyer now that Corban and Amycus had joined them on the landing. At the bottom of the stairs, Alecto looked around curiously before going down the hallway. She was just approaching the Dark Lord when Narcissa reached the main floor.
The Dark Lord had taken off his travel cloak. His hands were still tinged red from dried blood. There were streaks of it on Dagmar's clothes. The Dark Lord wrinkled his nose while he reached up to the back of his ribs to tug on Dagmar's bra. Dagmar had done the same that morning, complaining that the new one she'd bought wasn't very comfortable.
Corban and Amycus showed a slight hesitation when they bowed their heads to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord studied them intensely, his eyes deep scarlet in the light from the fireplace.
"I don't fault you for having difficulty reconciling me to this body." The Dark Lord folded his arms. "I expect you to adjust quickly."
"Yes, my Lord," Corban spoke for them all.
"We'll have a meeting in the morning to discuss everything, since it's starting to get late." The Dark Lord glanced at the clock. "I want everyone rested before we start planning our next move. For now, we don't need a dead body stinking up the house."
Narcissa glanced at the Dark Lord's old body, its glassy stare unrelenting on the ceiling. The Dark Lord pulled his wand out of his pocket. With a flick of it, his old body levitated off the floor. It had started to stiffen now. Narcissa took up the rear as the Dark Lord guided them back toward the front door. He set the body at the base of the porch stairs while they put their shoes on. Even though it was above freezing, Narcissa hugged her arms to herself. The chill she'd caught from the journey north likely wouldn't go away until she had the hottest shower she could handle for the longest she could get away with.
They headed together toward the path that led to the adjacent field. Alecto fell back away from Amycus and Corban to walk with Narcissa. "So what is this place, exactly? It belongs to Hildegard?"
"An old home," Narcissa said. "She's a druid."
Alecto furrowed her brow. On that note, Narcissa wasn't sure how much she should be telling Alecto about the Dark Lord's business. Narcissa's impression was that he preferred to convey what information everyone needed to act on his behalf. Alecto seemed to realize that at the same time, nodding before looking away into the woods. She pointed her lit wand in the direction of cracking branches.
"It's only Lys," Narcissa told her. "She doesn't mean any harm. She's just curious."
"Right." Alecto kept her wand trained toward her anyway.
They carried on toward the field. Narcissa didn't like it much unless the sun was high enough to come down on it. Otherwise, Narcissa tended to trip or stub her toes on the rocks hiding among the grass.
When they reached the clearing, the Dark Lord stopped and looked at Corban. "I need your light."
Corban held his wand close to the ground. The Dark Lord sifted through the grass with his foot, minding the rounded stones where he could. Narcissa hadn't noticed before that they were arranged linearly.
When the Dark Lord reached the end of the line, he laid his old body down. He studied it with slightly pursed lips and narrowed eyes.
Amycus shifted beside Narcissa. "Er, should we start dispersing the dirt, my Lord?"
"Hold on." The Dark Lord bent down beside his old body. He put his hand on the ground, his fingers spread apart. "I saw Hildegard do something once. I'd like to try it."
His face was set, gradually relaxing. Narcissa likened it to when Dagmar showed her how her druidic abilities work, but it was like the Dark Lord hit a wall before his eyes would slip out of focus like hers.
Eventually, he sighed and blinked before standing. "Go ahead, then."
Amycus, Alecto and Corban started moving the dirt beside the Dark Lord's body in order to make a grave. Narcissa toyed with her fingers in front of her stomach before joining the Dark Lord where he provided light.
"Er, my Lord," Narcissa said quietly. "I still don't have my wand. Would it be suitable if I go back to the house and put dinner on? I'm sure by the time you're all done, you'll be looking for something warm to put in your stomachs."
The Dark Lord nodded, so Narcissa took her leave. She didn't much like the dark path, even if she knew she wasn't in danger. Narcissa wouldn't have minded Lys catching up to her for company, but the woods were silent now.
Narcissa headed upstairs when she went inside, intent to put on another layer of clothing. With a grimace of annoyance, she realized that her things hadn't automatically moved from her old room to the master. Narcissa begrudgingly knocked on Bella's door, then harder when there was no answer.
The bed creaked inside before a scramble sounded. Bella's crusty eyes were dry and puffy. Narcissa's stomach twinged when Bella's hopeful expression fell.
"Come get your things out of my room," Narcissa told her.
Bella sighed. "Fine."
"Wouldn't want to anger the Dark Lord again, would you?"
Bella brushed past Narcissa, bumping her shoulder intentionally. Narcissa was seriously tempted to grab Bella by the hair and throw her over the railing. Bella gathered her strewn things together when Narcissa returned to the master.
"You'll never be as valuable to him as me," Bella snipped.
"Threatened?"
"No."
Narcissa couldn't care less who the Dark Lord currently played favourites with, or why. All she knew was that it bothered Bella deeply to have lost that place if she thought it worth saying something about.
With her back to Bella, Narcissa unpacked her few things on the dresser. "Wes and I shagged in here, you know."
Bella's rustling stopped. "Gross."
"Have fun in Dagmar's old room," Narcissa kept on. "I suggest you lay flat on your back when you sleep. The mattress isn't thick enough to keep your hip from digging into the frame."
"Whatever."
Bella took her leave with that, muttering something under her breath. She might've thought it was some sort of statement to slam her door, but it only made Narcissa smile to have pissed her off. After living at the mercy of her sister for so many months, some sort of personal power in their relationship felt good.
Sadness seeped back in when Narcissa returned downstairs. She fought against a lack of motivation while pulling ingredients out of the ice box. Had today gone differently, she would've probably already ate dinner and would be visiting with Draco and Dagmar. Narcissa came to a stop as she imagined the state of their home now: the windows smashed, the interior washed down with rain, and completely lacking in the life and warmth it once had. Narcissa had only gotten to see Draco for a week. Where was he now? Was he okay?
Narcissa started crying again to think about how absolutely crushed he was going to be when Dagmar came up missing. He didn't even have her body for some kind of closure. He might still hope she was all right, maybe swept up with the Death Eaters like his mum, but what if Dagmar wasn't?
Draco was far too young to lose someone like that. Just because he and Dagmar were eighteen and had only been together for a year and a half didn't mean it was any less tragic. There was a certain peace about them as a couple that was infectious. Even Bella calmed down around them. Narcissa couldn't be there for Draco while he picked up the pieces. Hopefully he had somebody.
When it came time to call everyone to the table, Narcissa didn't feel much of an appetite for herself. She tried not to dwell on the fact that the Dark Lord emerged from the library in different clothes than he'd arrived to the island in. It made Narcissa uncomfortable that the Dark Lord had free reign to see Dagmar bare. She was a reserved person for things like that. What about using the toilet, or just keeping her body clean? Such simple things had never seemed so intrusive.
It was thankfully Alecto that the Dark Lord requested take a plate up to Bella. Narcissa felt ready for bed after cleaning up after dinner, although it didn't necessarily mean she would fall asleep. She just wanted the day to end. Crying again was the only thing capable of making her drift off. Narcissa woke up when it was still pitch black. She tried to fall back asleep, but she felt rested enough. If the clock in the keeping room was to be believed, it was technically morning.
Alecto, Amycus, and Corban were already up. They sat together at the kitchen table.
"Tea?" Alecto asked.
"I'm fine," Narcissa said. "I was just curious what time it was."
"Hard to tell this far north, huh?" Corban replied, then yawned. "Wouldn't hurt to have a twenty-four hour clock."
"I thought that when I was here in the summer." Narcissa took a seat at the table.
"Bella mentioned you were," Amycus said. "She said you took the Dark Mark."
Narcissa nodded. "It hasn't really amounted to much yet. The Dark Lord told me he'd let me know when he needed me. It was my information that led him and Bella to Draco and Dagmar in Bergen, so I guess that was worth something."
"Yeah," Alecto sighed. "It really is a shame about your daughter-in-law. And Draco, although if he's anything like you and Lucius, he's too much of a little scrapper for anything bad to ever happen to him. Well—except for Dagmar."
Narcissa's eyes were so dry that when she rubbed them, they hurt. With them closed, she more felt than saw the discomfort around the table. Some feet shifted, and Amycus cleared his throat.
"We have a meeting soon, anyway," Corban said. "I think the Dark Lord was just waiting for you."
"Okay."
For something to do and to feel less like a dark cloud at the table, Narcissa fetched a teacup and filled it. It wasn't very good. Narcissa couldn't tell if it was the tea itself or her lack of mood for it.
The library door opened at the front of the house. Narcissa looked back over her shoulder. The Dark Lord studied them all from the arch frame leading into the keeping room.
"Is Bella still pouting upstairs?" he asked.
"Think so," Alecto answered.
"Go fetch her, and then come to the library."
"Yes, my Lord."
With the Dark Lord's prompt, Corban and Amycus stood up as well. Narcissa quietly followed. The library was well-lit and much more organized than the last time Narcissa was in here. A bunched blanket laid on the couch, and a pillow up against one of the armrests. The Dark Lord took a seat at the slightly enlarged table and gestured for everyone else to join him.
Alecto and Bella weren't far behind. Bella looked even worse than Narcissa had in the toilet mirror. She stopped in the doorway and was halfway into a bow when the Dark Lord said, "Just sit down. I'm not in the mood for your platitudes, Bella."
"Yes, my Lord." Bella closed the door and took a seat between Amycus and Corban. Her gaze passed Narcissa right over in favour of the Dark Lord.
"For the purpose of finding Magnus Norheim, I elected to only have Lucius, Bella, Rodolphus, Hildegard, and Erik fully aware of the situation," the Dark Lord started them off. "I thank you three for putting in such an effort, even if your individual searches wound up unproductive to the end we reached."
"It was as you commanded, my Lord." Corban rubbed his hands idly on the tabletop, his brow low in seriousness. "That you eventually succeeded is all that matters."
The Dark Lord pursed his lips. "I didn't, is the problem. Wormtail found Norheim, yes, but he was alone. I asked you to bring Norheim to me along with any travel companions, if found. It was the travel companion I was interested in."
Amycus cleared his throat. "Who was he traveling with?"
"A boy," the Dark Lord answered. "His name is Bjorn. He'll be seventeen in a few weeks."
In the silence that fell, Narcissa furrowed her brow along with everyone else spare Bella.
"If he's only seventeen, wouldn't he still be in school?" Alecto asked.
"We shopped around," the Dark Lord replied. "Since there was a hint of Norheim in French Europe, Hildegard infiltrated Beauxbatons by impersonating a student. I thought perhaps Norheim would deem Bjorn safe at Hogwarts under Dumbledore, but Hildegard and Erik never saw any sign of him at the train platform. Lucius never saw him during his years as school governor either. Hildegard snuck into Kapsferd, just in case. I asked Karkaroff before his death, but he didn't accept orphans or adoptees at Durmstrang. Bella checked there anyway in the fall."
"How would you know what he looks like?" Corban asked. "Can you ever be completely sure if you've found him?"
"Oh, I'd know." The Dark Lord's smile, while amused, was cold. "He'd look just like me at that age."
Narcissa hummed to herself. She'd never seen anyone like that before. Neither had Corban or the Carrows, judging by the further furrow of their brows. They looked disappointed. Bella's chin nearly touched her chest.
"It's all irrelevant now, anyway." The Dark Lord's shoulders fell slightly on a sigh. "We found Norheim, and the story started to come together. Norheim never raised Bjorn like we expected him to. He had his memory modified as far back as his departure from Norway. While he remembered who Bjorn was, he had no idea what happened to him."
"So. . ." Amycus scratched his cheek. "If Bjorn never attended school, then you don't suppose he's dead? Is it possible Norheim killed him?"
The Dark Lord scrunched up his nose. "It's possible, but more likely that Norheim was too soft to do that himself. We still have some recourse. When Bella interrogated Norheim with Dagmar, he mentioned a wish to travel by floo as far away from Bergen as possible. You'd said, Yaxley, that the furthest port from Bergen was Bucharest, yes? Romania?"
Corban nodded.
"There are prominent figures in the Balkan magical community that are referred to as archmages. If Norheim went there and was aware of these practitioners—or became aware—he may have thought one suitable to leave Bjorn with. These archmages would've also been powerful and knowledgable enough to modify such a significant portion of Magnus' memory without destroying his mind."
Alecto hummed. "So we're going to shift focus from France to the Balkans, then?"
"Yes." Using just his fingers, the Dark Lord levitated over one of the library's scrolls. It unfolded on the table, prompting Corban to move his hands and Alecto her elbows. It was an enlarged map of the Balkans. The Dark Lord stood over it and indicated some markers in the western region. "These are the locations of the three archmages I became aware of while I hid in the region. I would avoid the one's lair because I didn't want to risk being identified when I was too weak to defend myself. Given his reputation regarding experimentation with the undead, I was particularly careful never to accidentally wander that way."
"You think if Bjorn came under the care of one of these archmages, they wouldn't have sent him to school?" Amycus asked. "Maybe they kept him as a pupil of their own while raising him."
"We'll find out, if that's the case." The Dark Lord nodded. "It's the most promising lead we've had in a while. We found Norheim. I have no doubt that if we're patient, we'll find Bjorn too."
"We'll depart whenever you wish us to," Corban said.
With a little laugh, the Dark Lord cast him as fond a look as his cold gaze was capable of. "I appreciate the enthusiasm. It's hard not to chomp at the bit myself, since physically I feel more well than I have in a very long time. We're going to lay low for a little while, though. I want to see how Magical Europe has reacted to my apparent death. Since Nott isn't here, I have a job for you, Yaxley. You'll need to take up his old supply run. I'll have you swing down to London and fetch him when you go."
"Yes, my Lord."
"My Lord," Narcissa hesitantly spoke up, since she felt as if the meeting was beginning to wrap up. "If I may inquire, you had said last night that you would explain how you ended up in Dagmar's body."
"Oh, yes." The Dark Lord sat up straighter. "As I told you, I didn't intend for this to happen. It wasn't at all the original plan that Hildegard and I came up. She has my trust now, but back then we didn't know each other well enough for me to give that blindly. Do you recall when I told you that Hildegard split my soul and set a part aside? That the process of me attaining immortality should have been completed by the end of 1981, and would have been had Harry Potter not undermined my plans?"
Narcissa nodded.
"Hildegard placed that fragment of my soul inside Dagmar," the Dark Lord said. "Once it was there, she couldn't remove it without both of our consent. Once I returned and learned that she had lost Bjorn in the meantime, the revised plan was to find the boy before carrying through as initially intended."
"Is it possible that Dagmar might be okay when you're moved over, if Bjorn's found?"
"I'm not sure," he replied. "That's what I meant when I said that I would return her in original condition if I can. We have plenty of time while we search the Balkans to sort out the details. I have an idea that will help, but it's something that will take time to plan out.
"Your orders for now are as follows." The Dark Lord rolled up the map of the Balkans. "Narcissa, you will do as you did before. I'll have you make up a list of supplies for Yaxley. If anyone needs anything, feel free to add it. Yaxley, fetch Nott when you go, as well as any copies of the Daily Prophet you can find. Amycus and Alecto, stand by."
In the corner of Narcissa's gaze, Bella shrunk in her seat.
"Bella," the Dark Lord spoke her name without looking at her. "Considering that we have more mouths to feed than last time, I expect you to follow any instruction that Narcissa gives you in order to make her job easier."
"Yes, my Lord," she replied, tone low.
"I would hope she doesn't see any attitude," the Dark Lord warned her. "You've proven invaluable to me in past, but I did not appreciate you creating such a mess for us in Bergen. Yes, maybe I could've gotten Harry Potter. But at what cost? Would it have been fair for Draco and Dagmar to dog questions from the Ministry about why a team of Aurors that included Harry Potter and Kingsley Shacklebolt went missing? It would have been far too coincidental after the same thing already happened with Hildegard and Erik. Dagmar deserved better after all the help she gave my old body. Draco did too, for hosting us in his home. You don't even seem to regret hurting your own sister, who I had promised could stay with them. You broke my word."
She bowed her head, expression miserable. "I'm sorry."
"That remains to be seen." The Dark Lord narrowed his eyes at her. "You may all go."