Antonin Dolohov woke up slowly. The light in the room was dim, next to him something blinked. Opening his eyes further he noticed some tubes going from his arms. He started to panic. Looking around frantically a picture of Queen Elizabeth II. on the wall captured his attention. It calmed him down considerably. The last thought before losing consciousness again was that his breaths were coming more easily.
What no one knew about the stoic Russian-born was that Britain's souvereign held a special place in his heart. Coming to England with his father in 1967 the boy was lost. His mother and two younger brothers had been bludgered to death by Muggles who had seen Katarina Dolohov doing magic. Mikhail Dolohov's revenge was thorough and bloody, necessitating his and his remaining son's flight to Britain where Dolohov Sr. had some business contacts. Antonin's father had become closed off, turning towards too much alcohol. He had hired tutors for his son but the boy was deeply lonely, grieving for his mother and siblings, uprooted from everything he'd known, without friends.
Mikhail Dolohov had never been a blood-purist and Katarina's mother had been Muggleborn but now he eschewed every contact with the beasts that had slaughtered his pregnant wife and sons. He fell for Voldemort's propaganda nearly instantly. One of Antonin's tutors however, a Hufflepuff half-blood who saw how lost the nine year old was, attempted to show the boy the good sides of the country that was now his new home. They cruised the Thames, toured the Tower of London, watched the changing of the guards and frequented the British Museum as well as the National Gallery. Antonin's understanding of English grew by leaps and bounds even if he was still shy when speaking. He learned to love Robert Frost and William Shakespeare, soaked up history, understood cricket and football and slowly found his place in this new world he had been thrown into. He and his tutor went to watch Trooping the Colours in 1968, queueing early to have a good spot (mayhaps helped by a Muggle repelling charm). Antonin was thrilled to share his birthday, April 21st, with the monarch. He saw the Queen on her horse, Queen Mum in her carriage. Some weeks later, when his tutor praised his command of written English and encouraged him to use his skills for writing letters, the boy took it into his heart to write to Her Majesty. The tutor researched the correct form of address and Antonin wrote a heartfelt letter of thanks to the souvereign.
And when he graduated from Hogwarts, having gained his majority in Muggle Britain two months before, he applied for British citizenship. The day he gained it he wrote his second letter to Her Majesty. A week later everything in his life went to hell in a handbasket. Mikhail Dolohov poisioned himself before his creditors could reach him. Instead of starting his apprenticeship with a wards master young Antonin did what he could but still was left virtually pennyless. His former Head of House Filius Flitwick offered to act as a guarantor for Dolohov's apprentice fees but the master chose another apprentice who could pay upfront. The young man found work with the goblins of Gringotts but as his father had also accrued debts with the bank he had to work for free. His friend Yaxley let him use a guest-room in his townhouse and the elves were happy to have someone to cook for but Antonin's pride smarted at being dependant on someone else's charity. Voldemort's offer came when he was at his lowest, frustrated by the menial labour the goblins heaped on him while teaching him nothing, disappointed because he could not even take a young witch he fancied for tea, much less for dinner.
Still the young wizard was cautious, talking the offer of financing an apprenticeship with a world-reknown wardsmith in Bulgaria in exchange for joining the Knights of Walpurgis and being in Lord Voldemort's service after gaining a mastery over with Yaxley, Flitwick and Darius, his former tutor. Yaxley, being from a very traditional family, was in favour of taking the offer. Flitwick felt for his most promising pupil and wished that the young man was in a position to apply his talent, but he cautioned him as some very zealous blood-purists were also Knights. It was Darius who tipped the scale towards taking Voldemort's offer. His argument was that Muggle technology was advancing at such a fast pace that the Knights plans for a stricter segregation were the only solution for the continuation of the magical world.
The two years in Bulgaria had been challenging, magically, academically and personally. Antonin had learned a lot, had bowed down to studying on a whole different scale than in Hogwarts, even if he had not been a slouch there either. He had fallen in love for the first time and he had suffered his first disappointment in love. He had found lifelong friends and now knew how to make fire the Muggle way, how to withstand firewhiskey (drinking lots of water in between shots), he even knew how to drive a tractor (due to lack of spare parts they were standing on the fields of the kolkhoz whose workers started to believe in ghost-tractors after hearing and seeing the broken machines move during the night).
Yaxley and Darius wrote regularly, giving him updates on the political climate in the UK as well as their personal lives. Darius was trying to escape the matchmaking of his mother while chasing every skirt in the vicinity while was Yax was settling down and planning to marry Flora MacDonald during Antonin's break in summer. As divers as their love lives were his friends' accounts of the happenings around Lord Voldemort. Yaxley praised the return of the Old Ways but Darius was growing uneasy with the way the Knights of Walpurgis, now newly dubbed Death Eaters, went about bringing change. There were whispers of favouritism, of bribes, of intimidation even. Antonin gave up on getting his friends to agree on that topic and postponed any judgement to after his return to Britain.
When Antonin Dolohov woke up again it was because a nurse was opening the curtains and offering him breakfast – gruel and herbal tea – after taking his temperature. The tubes in his arms were gone and overall he felt better than in years if a bit wobbly. He was debating with himself whether to try to make it to the bathroom when the nurse came back with a bedpan.
"No, sir, sorry. You gave us quite a scare, it's bedrest for now."
"Where am I?"
"I am not allowed to say. Someone will come by later."
Indeed a doctor entered the room half an hour later. By then Antonin had discovered the bruises on his ribcase. He asked the man about them.
"Well, you were not breathing anymore and your heart had stopped. We had to do CPR, the bruises are from the cardiac massage." The fugitive remembered Yaxley telling him that Muggles breathed into the mouth of someone close to dying and put pressure on their sternum to re-start the heart.
"A male nurse will come by later to help you take a shower and shave, we'll have you looking spiffy for your visitor."
"What visitor? Where are we?"
"I am not allowed to tell you either but please do know that you are safe and no one here means you any ill."
It obviously was a Muggle hospital. Antonin seemed to remember that Eton was an expensive school, maybe they had a medical wing? There were no bars on the window, at least he was not in prison. The strange noise sometimes heard from above he identified as Muggle aeroplanes landing or taking off, Darius had once taken him to watch just that from London's City airport. For now he decided to take everything they told him at face value and not worry too much, he was too tired for that anyway.
The shower woke him up somehow but without the nurse he would not have made it back into his bed. The nurse had explained that he was still getting strong medicine for the pneumonia and that it was to be expected that his body turned much of its strength towards battling the illness. Just as he was falling asleep again a somber looking man in a suit, with a wire going from his ear under his collar came into the room, looked under the bed, into the en-suite and even behind the curtains. After calling "All clear" to someone outside the man stood to attention next to the door, saying, with a last look at Antonin, "Presenting Her Majesty, The Queen!"
Antonin subpressed the need to pinch himself when no one other than the Queen of England entered his sick-room. Not wanting to fall on his face in front of her he did not attempt to stand but rather sit as erect and attentive as possible while remembering to close his mouth just in time.
"Your Majesty!"
The security guard brought a chair and Her Majesty sat down.
"Good morning. Will you tell us your name?"
"Of course. Antonin Mikhailovich Dolohov. I am your most humble and obidient servant."
"You are a British citizen?"
"Dual citizenship, I think. As I have not been to Russia since being a boy of eight years I might no longer be considered a citizen there."
"Very well, we will look into it. Mr Dolohov, no doubt you wonder about our visit. We would like to thank you most sincerely for saving the life of Prince William, heir to the throne, a week ago at Eton. He was acting on a dare, trying to pin a flag on the buoy in the middle of the pond. The prince told us of a light at the end of a tunnel and our doctors confirmed that his heart and his breathing had stopped. If not for your actions we would have lost the child."
"How is he?"
"The prince is quite well, a slight cold, and of course he is grounded for the coming weeks."
"I am glad."
"We have heard that you nearly died as well. We hope that your recuperation proceeds without any problems and we would like to offer our assistance to you."
"Ma'am, I am humbled and very grateful for you visit and your well-wishes."
"As it is proper. What can we do for you? My security tells me you seem to be without a place to live. Do you need work? Or would you prefer monetary assistance? There is precedence of monthly stipends for individuals who did the monarchy great service."
Antonin tried to remember whether the Queen was exempt from Statue of Secrecy.
"Your Majesty, are you aware of a group of subjects of yours who are hidden?"
The Queen turned towards the guard, addressing him, "James, please wait closer to the door and send for Mr Yaxley. Lord Chamberlain will know how to reach him."
Turning back to the patient she continued in a softer voice, "So you are one of our wizards. I had wondered when neither MI5 nor MI6 could make no head nor tail of you. Did you use magic on our grandson?"
"Yes, Ma'am, and I am very glad that it worked because I had no guarantee without a wand."
"Would you mind telling us how you did it?"
"I did a water-expelling charm to clear the lungs and then one called Renervate. It is used for waking up people who have fainted and thankfully it worked on the little prince."
"Yes, quite. Mr Dolohov, what can we do for you?"
"Your Majesty, I am not worthy of your consideration. As a young man I joined a wizard who turned out to be quite mad, a terrorist. He broke me out of prison but something went wrong and I landed next to the boat-house."
"We will have to talk longer about your motiviations of joining Voldemort –"
At Dolohov's astonished mien the queen smiled, "Yes, we do try to keep up with what's happening to our subjects. As I have another commitment soon I advise you to look at your arms and then think further on our talk."
With a regal nod at him she was gone. The patient tugged at the cuffs of his pyjama and could not believe his eyes. The scars from his fall into the brambles behind his parents' house were once again visible as there was no Dark Mark on his left forearm any longer. A strangled sob escaped him. He remembered that the bodies of fallen Death Eaters – much to the frustration of the Auror corps – bore no longer Voldemort's mark, as it was connected to their magic and life-force. He must have truly been dead for the mark to vanish, and the Muggle doctors had brought him back!
"Well, I would cry happy tears as well, old friend."
Yaxley must have come in some time during the last minutes. Antonin dried his eyes with his sleeves, looking his comrade over. The Scot appeared well if a tad harassed. He made a move to hug the patient and for once he let it happen, eyes moistening again.
"Antonin, Antonin, after the Dark Lord finished applying the Crucio on Pettigrew for losing you with that Portkey a few of us withdrew, lit a candle and raised a glass to you. I am exceedingly glad that talks of your demise were an exaggeration."
"I did die, according to the doctors here. They did something, a sort of Muggle Renervate, to bring me back. Which is why I am no longer marked."
"How did you come under Her Majesty's cognisance? She only told me to look after one of my kind."
"The Portkey dropped me next to a boathouse. I stayed there for two days, getting back on my feet before trying to reach Knockturn Alley. When I was about to leave a child broke through the ice on the pond. I got the boy out but too late, he had stopped breathing. I used Renervate wandlessly and thankfully it worked, but now I fear my core is burnt right through."
"I am doing a diagnostic in a moment but you haven't answered my question: why the queen?"
"T'boy was her elder grandson, heir to the throne or something."
"Blimey, Toni! Right into the middle you go! You might polish up your manners, you will be knighted, I am sure!"
Yaxley waved his wand in a complicated pattern over Antonin's body, making magical pathways appear. Now and then he prodded at some nodes with a solemn face.
"You will need plenty of rest, enough food and absolutely no magic for some months but your core is not burnt through. My best guess is that your magic went dormant in Azkaban and reacted badly to your sudden call of wandless magic when rescuing the boy. It will come back in my opinion but it will take time."
"Maybe I can work as a gardener for Her Majesty. How are you, Yax?"
"Mhm. The missus is fed up with me for going back into the Dark Lord's service. We had our fourth just before the tosser resurrected himself."
"Congratulations! Boy our girl?"
"The fourth boy, can you believe it? We were hoping for a girl but now all hope's lost for one, Flora locked me out of the bedroom."
"She will relent. She always had a temper, if I remember correctly."
"Indeed. I was tempted to ignore the call but being in such a high position with the ministry and the Muggle Prime Minister alike I have to know what's going on. I can be of more use if I am in his confidence."
His old friend's countenance spoke of more than being unhappy separated from his family.
"Yax?"
"Toni, I was disenchanted with the Dark Lord before his fall, but now he is quite mad. I guess Pettigrew botched the potion for the ritual up - not only is he paranoid to the point of sending a Crucio for a minion sneezing - but he looks like a half-snake, no hair, scaly skin. His magic is powerful as ever but the rest-"
"I'd suspected he was making Horcruxes before."
"Horcruxes plural? Merlin, what a daft thing to do."
"Mhm."
"I'll be back, my friend, when you're better."
Dolohov was asleep before Yaxley was through the door.
A week later the patient felt much better and when he was appraised of yet another visit from the queen he insisted on being dressed in more formal clothes than hospital issue pyjamas. He was still shaky but he stood when the queen entered the room.
"Your Majesty."
"Mr Dolohov, I see you are much improved."
"Yes, I am, Ma'am, thank you."
"Please be seated. I have a few questions for you."
Antonin did as he was asked and answered his souvereigns queries truthfully. He told her of his reasons for joining Voldemort and also of the situation now. He told her how important she had been to the uprooted and frightened child he had been. The queen was already informed of the plight of the magical world and had even offered assistance to Minister Fudge but the fool seemed to have spurned the offer.
"I will confer with Mr Yaxley as well, maybe we can come up with a solution for the Voldemort-problem without the Ministry of Magic's assistance. My grandson William has expressed his wish to thank you in person but as he is grounded that will have to wait until Easter. Mr Yaxley told me of your diagnosis concerning your magic and I have already offered my assistance. Were you in earnest that working as a gardener would be what you wish?"
"Your Majesty, I am your most obedient and humble servant. I will need some time to be of use to you as a wizard and in the meantime menial work in your service would be wonderful. I would prefer working outside and have no experience with horses or cooking, that's why I thought of working in the gardens."
"So it shall be, Mr Dolohov. I trust Mr Yaxley to monitor your progress and I hope you will turn your mind towards a solution for our problem while you prune some bushes."
After three more days in hospital Antonin was shown a simple, single room under the roof of Buckingham Palace and started as an undergardener in Her Majesty's service. He tried his best to fulfill the queen's request but usually fell asleep quickly after a hard day's work. When Ben, his foreman, reminded him to use gloves while handling foxglove seeds he had an idea. Neither in Herbology nor in Potions at Hogwarts had foxgloves been mentioned as being poisonous yet they clearly were. Yaxley interviewed Snape under the pretense of being anxious for his ever increasing brood about the foxglove growing near his Scottish manor. The Potions master lectured him about how good parents always – always! - carried a bezoar on their persons, as the little brats were bound to put dangerous things into their mouths when no-one was looking. Point in case Malfoy Junior during his younger years. And yes, foxglove was toxic for wizards as well but not commonly used in potions as it tended to react adversely with a lot of other potions ingredients. Flora MacDonald Yaxley took it upon herself to summon an adder and poison her with digitalis when her husband was too squeamish. The snake, still not fully awake because of the cool spring day, took a while longer to die than a rat of similar weight but yes, digitalis was toxic for snakes as well.
A trip to a Muggle bookshop told Yaxley what else he needed to know about their poison of choice. Due to his half-snake-body the Dark Lord might take a little longer to die than a victim in an Agatha-Christie-novel but a quarter of an hour after the injection of digitalis he should be safely dead. Antonin had thought of using a Muggle syringe after his stay in the hospital - Voldemort was notorious for checking everything he ingested - but it was Flora who thought of using a tranquiliser gun instead of using Imperio on Peter Pettigrew which would have been Yax' solution.
The plan the trio hatched involved a Portkey and an Invisibility Cloak, a heirloom from Flora's family. At the appointed time Yaxley would trigger the Portkey which would Dolohov transport to him. Under the cloak the Russian and his tranquiliser gun would be Apparated side-along to the Death Eater meeting and wait for a good time to shoot Voldemort. Usually the Dark Lord told no one where meetings were held but at times like Beltane or Summer Solstice they were not held in buildings but rather on important magical sites like Stonehenge or Avebury which would give Antonin a free firing-line. After his duties in Her Majesty's gardens he would spend time at the shooting range of her guards training. He proved to be a decent shot and eagerly awaited Beltane.
As expected he was Portkeyed to Yaxley's side on the evening of April 30th, 1996, from where they Apparated to the Dark Lord's side. That part of the plan was risky, as in any building they would meet there would be wards against anyone without a dark mark. Thankfully they landed near the Men-an-Tol on Penwith Moor in Cornwall. Antonin slunk away lest someone stumble into him, looking for a vantage point. The Queen's Guards had equipped the tranquiliser gun with night vision. The land around Men-an-Tol was flat unfortunately, so the gun-man had to use a hoovering charm to elate himself. Dolohov was more nervous than expected, he had not trained for shooting while hoovering, but he got the Dark Lord right in the neck. After seeing Voldemort stumble around he used a Portkey as he still was virtually without magic and therefore defenseless.
Yaxley told the whole story a day later over a glass of scotch. The scaly bastard had dropped unto his knees before he'd managed to dislodge the tranquiliser dart. He'd looked at it with disbelieve before his eyes rolled back and he dropped down. Bellatrix had thrown herself over her master's body while Severus Snape had cast a diagnostic charm. When the Potions master declared poison the reason for Voldemort's illness Walden McNair, never the sharpest knife in the drawer, had bellowed `Accio poison!´ With an ingested substance it might have made the Dark Lord vomit but as the foxglove had already entered his tissue and bloodstream the charm made all the vessels the poison had reached then burst. McNair and Bellatrix got most of the blast, Snape had a shield up and therefore only suffered the disappointment of his laundry elf while the other two collapsed soon after. Yaxley insisted that the pops of the other Death Eaters Apparating away sounded relieved. The Scot had disillusioned himself as soon as the dart had hit it's aim and concluded his story with yet another surely exaggerated thing, namely that Snape had mumbled something about lilies and revenge before producing a Patronus in form of a doe and giving Kingsley Shacklebolt a message.