Draco took the news of the moderate success in Burma without particular comment.
He found himself sitting under a great multi-colored awning, surveying his vassals who were doing their best not to look bothered by the heat. A witch in a traditional wide-hemmed dress handed him a glass of horchata, a bizarre drink that tasted of rice and cinnamon, and he handed her the appropriate weight of silver without a second thought.
"Why'd she put half of it in her dress?" Goyle asked, blinking again.
"I overpaid her," he answered simply. "We want her to remember that we were here."
"It didn't look like you gave her that much."
"Have you ever heard of the Latin American Debt Crisis? La Decada Perdida?" He did not wait for a response. "Never mind; the muggles have some silly explanation for it, but what really happened was the Aztec Empire, essentially a dark wizard group, decided it was too suspicious that the first Gringotts branch was ushered in by the Americans, so it had to go. They killed every goblin in there and roasted them; don't ask me why they roasted them instead of cutting out their hearts after removing the extremities; dark rituals from folk magic are so poorly understood schools of thought they cannot properly be called that."
"The muggles crashed because the wizards crashed?" Parkinson asked. At the very least she seemed to have an eye for political consequence.
"Muggle Mexico, yes, the rest of Latin America went down after that because the goblins wanted to retaliate." It had been said enough times that the creatures were sickly twisted, only loyal to each other and happy to bring down any other wizard for the slight or perceived slight of one. "In any event, the moderate success in Burma has no impact on our plans. Our allies already in Mexico will continue to advertise the destruction of the Order base as a total victory, and what remains of our contingent in Asia will torture confessions out of the survivors that they had killed the little heiress shortly after capturing her. If she ever resurfaces, it will give us a clue as to where to find the other Order bases."
"Malfoy, I may speak out of turn-" Derrick started. "I just don't think that's wise. We're going after the weakest enemy we could possibly-"
"These are our orders," Draco interjected. "A particularly idealistic blood purist might wonder if the Dark Lord truly has our interests in mind, but thus far, none of the heads of the sacred families have moved against him. The Inner Circle understands his reasoning."
He spoke with confidence, but he could not be going out on a thinner limb from what he actually knew. In a positively ideal scenario, they had the perfect opportunity to either strike and destroy the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, else recruit them once they saw that there was no other way
"Whilst the Confederados are meeting with the Texans, we should be able to complete this one ourselves," Bulstrode said, trying to return them to the matter at hand. As she had proven, she could accurately replicate the warding they needed to use once they reached the appropriate place.
"All that stands in our way is the locals," Parkinson said, sighing. He could tell she did not enjoy this kind of challenge, and would have preferred if he left her with their allies, but he needed someone he could trust, for some definition of trusting. Fortunately, she was picking up Spanish quickly.
"Is it the Aztec Empire?" Derrick asked. I suppose it is good that you attempt to pick things up from context.
"The people we're dealing with mostly came over from Spain," Goyle said, having been informed. "We don't really know much about them, but they're called the Skull Masks or whatever it is in their language."
"Las Mascaras Calaveras?" Parkinson asked.
"It's de la Calavera, but to everyone around, apparently 'Mascaras' is sufficient," Draco explained. "Consider this your opportunity to see dark wizards from around the world."
Their contact arrived without warning, appearing in front of them like a mirage fading into reality. It's certainly quieter than Apparation. I wonder if there are any other advantages. As expected, he wore a black cloth mask with an intricate white skull, as well as the traditional black suit rather like a mariachi.
"¿Malfoy se llama?"
"Sí señor. Necesito hablar en espiritu para continuar."
The dark wizard seemed to consider his words before responding, though there was nothing that could be read through the opaque mask. In a moment he simply disappered.
"Where's he gone?" Goyle asked.
"Never you mind," Draco said.
The wizard was replaced by a witch, also wearing the skull mask.
Good afternoon, Death Eater.
He gathered that she knew he was marked, probably by Divination. It seemed unlikely that any of his father's friends had brought him up in conversation.
Good afternoon, Skull Mask. Perhaps we could get to business quickly. I am aware that you are having some difficulties with the Americans.
Indeed. It appears that where we use the term enlightenment, they use narcotics. You have the gold, then?
Better. Producing a note from his robes, he hoped he was convincing the witch that he was not perturbed by the heat. Goyle had asked why they had never used magic to do anything more than make it not life-threatening, and he explained that the heat was simply part of their land, culture, and to some extent, apothecary. Thousands of potions had been invented in Latin America, and the temperature of the environment was an implied factor.
It appears to be a promissory note from the Lord Voldemort.
I assure you, he did sign it himself. It had not been challenging to arrange, though the owl he sent was not the one that returned with the parchment, which either meant it had been a multi-legged journey, or the Dark Lord had simply killed one and sent a new one back after deciding it was important enough for his signature.
It is more than what we requested.
Consider it an act of noblesse oblige. Our master can be generous when he means to be.
In truth, it had more to do with the fact that they possessed a near infinite amount of gold, and the properties they had purchased with the gold were all managed by the Death Eaters. Though many Mexican wizards would not take gold after the incident with the goblins, they could easily change what they were making into muggle money, then change the muggle money, then change that into whatever they would accept, which happened to be notes from the State of Valencia, which were relatively stable after the balkanization of the country.
Silence came and went.
Come with me.
Draco followed the witch and his vassals followed him, as instructed. The Mexican Empire saw the rise of mirage concealment, a blanket term for using magical mirages as folded space as well as a simple way of deterring muggles. Unfortunately for the empire's ability to govern itself, groups of individuals were perfectly capable of using the magic for more than just Secrecy. The New World is lawless. Founded after the Statute, there is virtually nothing else they can enforce, not on the kind of scale we would consider relevant. Fortunately for us, a lawless region is less likely to discover a band of underage terrorists.
"What's going to happen to the Order?" Parkinson asked as they walked into the wilderness.
"Nothing is certain at the moment; all things depend on what the Dark Lord decides. They will most likely not accept negotiation, as we only just used what was meant to be a trap for us as an ambush for them. They managed to abscond with the heiress, meaning the Burmese royal family will not count it as a victory for us, at least not unless our prepared explanation is believed. In the unlikely event they accept terms, they will have to confess that magic is a matter of blood, and we shall unite all opposition against the Crouch and his allies under our leadership."
It seemed she knew better than to ask what was next for the Lord Voldemort, which would have put her on one side or the other. In reality he was almost certain she was a pragmatist and would simply join whatever side seemed to be winning, and she would only join a matter of seconds before the victory was announced. Perhaps neither of them were Gryffindors, and for good reason, but he could not help but count her course of action as insufferably craven. Perhaps, if I might venture further, and assume Longbottom was correct in his supposition of the virtue of Slytherin House, if it can be called that, the consequence of our being hindered by cowardice will be the worse for the magical world.
"The Ministry is having difficulties staffing itself. Every applicant for a position with any power has to go through extensive screening, and the power that might have appealed to them has been divided several times over."
"This is within our expectations," Draco said. "The basic problem they faced up until Crouch's government was the issue of being able to trust the members with keeping secret programs secret. If, for, example, they needed the funding to conduct Inspections in Hogwarts, and for some reason the Department of Mysteries had to provide a line-item budget, then there could only be a small, trusted group that actually saw the gold go to the program. Since the reforms made protest to no effect at all, and violent revolution impossible, the Ministry has enjoyed the opportunity to be less tight-lipped, at least with regards to internal matters. The people of Britain know exactly what will be done to them, now that there is nothing they can do about it."
"You would not have them in a different position," Parkinson prompted.
The wastes before them led up a mountain of multi-colored sediment, rather like an inverted canyon. He could see nothing at the flat top, but he was quite certain it was only a mirage. Perhaps even the nonmagical can see this mountain from a distance.
"No," he said. "Wands belong to all wizardkind and the bearing thereof by the populace general is of no particular threat to the Death Eaters, least of all those of the oldest families. At the same time, once we manage to establish a magical monarchy, we have no intention of allowing it to be overthrown, and if measures need to be taken to prevent rebel groups from gaining power, we shall not hesitate. Of course, the only way this is remotely likely to take place is if misinformation about blood and magic were to spread, and we have no intention of allowing that. Literature supporting counterfactual ideologies will not receive approval for publication, and students who have not learned the material correctly will not receive license to teach others."
Silence reigned for mere moments before the air was filled again with sound. The witch in front of them called out to the mountain, though he did not bother trying to discern her words, as they were not proper Spanish, and his knowledge of the language was minimal anyways. He had spent every spare minute since leaving on the mission either training with his vassals or reading whatever he could, but there were still gaps he was cursing in his memory, even if he could in vain blame Theodore Nott for his betrayal.
I had never suspected he would be working with Evan, but this will only bring about their mutual downfall. If the Heir acts without the knowledge of the Dark Lord, he is acting against that which gives him strength. The part stands no chance against the whole, and if they are so determined to learn this lesson the hard way, let it not be said that I did not reach out with a wiser path to power and repute.
The mountain revealed a staircase cut into it and the strange company began to ascend. The scene had an oddly eastern feel to it, but he supposed there had been substantial Chinese immigration in the nineteenth century, and the magical community might have received them differently than the nonmagical, as from what little he knew, the reception had not always been temperate. For the life of him, he could not understand where Tõnisson and those like him derived their distaste for the foreign.
We should have taken measures like these to ensconce ourselves in Britain before we were ousted, and we might have, had the Lord Voldemort not essentially ordered us to retreat. Had we gone to such lengths to protect our organization, we could have survived becoming a commonly known organization and taking the truth to people directly without having to rely on luncheons at our properties and word of mouth through our children at Hogwarts.
Even as he climbed the steps to the secret base of dark wizards, he missed the school and doubted he had discovered even half of its mysteries. It was not simply the life's work of four of the greatest witches and wizards to ever live, combining their house knowledge into a single library and making it accessible to all British children conditional only on being a vassal to one of the houses in the alliance. The Founders essentially dominated all magical education in Britain in a heartbeat; all other noble families had only their own libraries to offer, charged exorbitant fees, and had bizarre tests of loyalty. It was not simply the seat of power that would have given the Death Eaters control over the whole island and probably some of Ireland as well, whatever that was worth. For four years, though he had sworn to both of his parents that he was a Malfoy first, Hogwarts had been home to him.
The Dark Lord believed that I let it fall. He clutched his wand, but restored it to his black robes quickly.
The scene around him developed into a high-walled pyramid, and rising from that great towers with crenellations more typical of European castles. The exterior was elegantly simple, but on the inside there wall paintings featuring everything from winged serpents to some crucifixion, to a giant head of three faces representing the past, present, and future. Dark wizards in much the same costume as the ones they had seen so far turned to watch the strange visitors. Draco took the opportunity to go over some lines that Travers and Lestrange had found effective when dealing with the Africans.
I understand you speak no version of Spanish with any particular fluency. State your business here.
There was no sound to track to its source, but he could tell the thoughts were coming from an ancient witch resting her head on her fist as she regarded the visitors with, somehow, disinterest.
Witches and wizards of Mexico are not alone in being unnecessarily constrained in the exploration of the boundaries of magic. There has never been a greater force in the magical world than the Lord Voldemort, who has crushed all of his enemies to date, light and dark wizards alike; he has never lost in a contest of skill and knowledge. There are greater heights that we can achieve by working together-
Perhaps.
It seemed the old witch in the high seat was going to be difficult.
Perhaps, though, you simply come and drone on about some other upstart. Do you have any idea how long I have lived?
I could not guess.
It was an honest answer, but not one he expected to help him very much. He had already estimated the old witch's power to be at least remotely comparable to that of the Dark Lord, enough that he would probably avoid directly fighting her himself. It crossed his mind that he really should have heard of her if the Mascaras de la Calavera were not meant to be an entirely secret organization.
I see the source of your confusion. Allow me to explain this way. In Oceania, there is a belief that if you eat a wizard's meat, you gain his power. I have sent my wards to investigate, but thus far they have returned with no meaningful results. What we have found is that if you pierce a wizard's side, and drain his blood into a cup, you can gain his whole life.
Draco's eyes narrowed. It was some more primitive or perhaps more visceral understanding of the principle behind the horcrux, at least as far as he could tell. He gathered that she must have strung multiple souls together to keep them bound to her mortal coil.
The first time, it was little more than a painful experience, and I gained little more than a few years, but the principle was sound.
Perhaps you should tell me how old you are, Madam. I have always heard that it is unbecoming to ask.
The old witch smiled briefly.
I know why you are here. You wish to place a ward on our territory. You wish to construct this golden circle? Perhaps I shall speak in place of your master. Had he been anticipating anything good before, his hope of such things was entirely gone. No. It is not necessary to put up such defenses when there are those like myself.
I anticipate such a response, and I will not hide from it. Consider, however, what his activity means for you. He has already killed the Xian.
He killed enough that the rest retreated; he did not kill all of them at once, and if he were to be located, they would almost certainly strike. Perhaps you are not aware, but the Imperial Ministers have even asked Mexico if we would allow a mark on our beings that would instantly report the presence of your master. We refused, of course, though I doubt other nations have as much pride. I doubt other nations have forces as powerful as myself.
Draco's eyes narrowed. He kept it out of his surface thoughts, but he knew that the witch before him was powerful by means of a trick that could be replicated, and that meant that either the Dark Lord would do just that unless there were some massive drawback that made the increase in power worthless to him. He stared intently as if unafraid.
Perhaps I cannot convince you that the Lord Voldemort would have me establish the Golden Circle, but you will simply hear the same from him in a matter of days if you refuse to allow us to harmlessly ward a part of your territory. I come not as a trusted agent of his in the sense that my failure to gain your assent will do any more than delay the fulfillment of his designs, but as a messenger with a warning.
He rolled up his sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark. It was not strictly what he was meant to do with the secrets of the Death Eaters, but he could be quite certain they would take his side had they been there.
If you would like to examine this enchantment, you will learn that it is a rather complex implementation of soul magic, substantively a curse that makes me completely subject to my master's will. If I fail him, he will summon me to his position and use my blood to decorate the walls of wherever he happens to be. He is without patience, mercy, or hesitation.
The ancient witch waved a hand, the sleeve of the elaborate red dress lagging just behind.
Let us not waste time, then. Defeat my minions in a fair duel and you will have your ward. This will not, however, take place today. If as you claim the Lord Voldemort would have you establish this Golden Circle, then some evidence to this effect can be gained in a matter of days, even as busy as he must be, arrogantly challenging the entire world to a duel. Let us see that you have not simply invented his orders, and then you will duel champions of my choosing for my permission to carry them out.
Knowing that to act as though the terms were acceptable would mean that he had never been acting as ordered, he swiftly turned around after telling the ancient witch that if she wanted a duel she could have it, and she could have it whenever she wanted it, but the Dark Lord would not appreciate being delayed. The dark wizards made no attempt to stall him leaving; either they recognized that he was not fleeing or they were simply not concerned about where he went.
Walking out of the great palace on the mountain, his vassals followed him, which was well enough.
There were quite a few developments of which he would have to inform them, after all.