Chapter 24 - Report
Tom stood beside the mantelpiece and looked down at the crawling wizard.
"I never said you were allowed to kiss my boots, Runcorn," he said with a hard tone. "That is an honour you have to earn."
Runcorn froze, his panicked thoughts as he tried to figure out what to do or say almost audible. Before he could come up with anything, however, there was a weak knock at the door and a moment later Wormtail scurried into the room to whisper something in Tom's ear.
"Send him in," he commanded. "Masked."
Tom felt tempted to call this meeting off, much more interested in hearing Severus' latest report than in dealing with grovelling would-be-followers, but after a brief internal deliberation he decided it would set a bad precedent to blow his schedule to meet with a subject he hadn't even summoned. Severus had come on his own, so he could very well wait, and his waiting presence might even be useful.
Severus slipped into the room like a shadow, the white of his mask the only part of him that broke the illusion. Tom congratulated himself again for his choice of attire for his Death Eaters, and again for making Severus one of his. The man had been born for those robes.
His subject came to kneel in front of him —not sparing a single glance at Runcorn—, and silently accepted Tom's hand to symbolically kiss, a gesture that elicited an angry hiss from Bella as well as several other envious looks around the room.
"Rise, my loyal servant," said Tom, indicating to Severus that he was to stand to his right. "You arrived just in time to meet the latest traitor that the Ministry has to offer. Perhaps you recognize Albert Runcorn, from the Improper Use of Magic Office?"
Severus simply gave a curt nod, knowing better than to speak when he had been commanded to attend this meeting with mask on. Scrimgeour and a few other high rank Minister officials were aware of Severus Snape's status as a spy —supposedly on the side of the light— but especially now that Dumbledore was no longer able to protect him Tom judged wiser not to reveal his presence here to the likes of Runcorn.
"Apparently dear Albert is reconsidering his allegiance," explained Tom. "Clearly he didn't think I was such a safe bet while Albus Dumbledore was still alive."
Runcorn was hardly the first one to have come around as soon as the old fool's death had been announced —Tom had audiences scheduled every hour of every day for the next three weeks, emissaries even coming from abroad to kneel before him—, but while every new addition was welcomed it irritated Tom to no end that all these cowards had thought Dumbledore better than him.
"It's not like that, my Lord, I-"
"I am not your master yet, Runcorn," he reminded him coldly, "You insult all my servants present in this room by addressing me as your Lord."
"Pardon... Your Lordship," corrected himself the terrified man, pausing to see whether he would be recriminated for that form of address too. Tom said nothing, so Runcorn continued, "I was already considering to join you long before Dumbledore died, I just-"
"I do not appreciate lies, Runcorn," hissed Tom, "you would do well to remember that. You, like many others, thought Dumbledore's was the winning side. That was an error of judgement, but Lord Voldemort can forgive errors... once."
"Thank you, Your Lordship, I will do my best to serve you, I swear my loyalty will never-"
"Your loyalty will be put to the test," cut him off Tom. "You will surrender any information I demand and perform whatever task I set for you, and if by the time the Ministry falls you have proven yourself worthy I might consider to honour you with my Mark."
In cases like these Tom usually preferred to brand them as soon as possible, to make harder for the candidates to change their minds and double-cross him, but he knew that it was the Ministry's current policy to check left arms at random or at the slightest suspicion so it was safer to use unmarked people for the infiltration.
"I will not disappoint you, Your Lordship," vowed the aspirant.
"You better not. Make no mistake, Runcorn, you will not be so easily trusted. I already have men strategically placed inside the Ministry," he gestured at Severus, who could be anyone and definitely looked foreboding enough to intimidate even this six feet tall, powerfully built wizard, "and they will be watching you at all times."
Runcorn glanced at Severus and gulped.
"Your first task will be to put Mafalda Hopkirk under the Imperius Curse and to obtain through her the records of all Mudbloods currently sullying British soil."
The man's eyes widened in panic.
"I- I'm not sure I can do that, y-your Lordship," he stuttered. "All the chiefs of division in the DMLE are being checked for the Imperius every day, and the Mugg-Mudblood records have been moved to a more secure location, I-"
"You will find a way to bring that information to me," snapped Tom, "as well as the DMLE's records of all the Muggle residences currently enjoying Ministry protection."
"I- I'll try, your Lordship."
"You will not try. You will deliver the results I ask, or you and your family will suffer the consequences." He let him drown in his fear for a long minute before adding in a softer tone, "If you serve me well, you will be appropriately rewarded. I will need trustworthy men to help me run the Ministry, Runcorn, you might be one of them."
Tom checked the man's mind again before dismissing him, satisfied to find a promising mixture of fear and greed. Runcorn was not the brightest, but he was definitely Death Eater material. And he held a grudge against Scrimgeour speaking against his promotion inside the DMLE when he was still running the Auror division, so it was likely he would help bringing him down even without any need of promises or threats.
/
"Severus," he said finally, once any inconvenient eyes had been removed from the room, "I did not expect you at this early hour."
His loyal subject removed his mask and pulled down his hood before kneeling again.
"My Floo connection has been disabled, my Lord, and there are Aurors patrolling the boundaries at night so I judged more prudent to get away during the day."
"Your position has not been compromised, I trust?"
"No, my Lord, I am merely being cautious."
Tom nodded, satisfied.
"Perhaps you will join us for afternoon tea, then. I am sure Narcissa will be pleased to have you over."
Severus' mouth twisted in something between a grimace and a smirk, and Tom wondered again, in mild amusement, just what he was playing at with Narcissa. It was plain in her mind and behaviour that she desired him, even after his last cruel rejection, but Tom wasn't yet sure whether Severus wanted her or not. Most likely he was resisting to take her for Lucius' sake, although it might enter the equation the fact that he wouldn't be allowed to kill her afterwards and that was just not Severus' style.
Narcissa looked anything but pleased at Severus' presence in her home, but of course she was too well bred and extremely wary of Tom as to fail to act the part of a graceful hostess. Still, her coldness could cut ice and it seemed to physically hurt her to address Severus politely, her tension increasing at Severus' supreme indifference.
"So, Severus," said Tom over his tea cup. "You left in a rush the other morning, I didn't get a chance to ask you if you had enjoyed your little treat."
"It was most enjoyable, my Lord, thank you," said Severus, his black eyes shining with dark satisfaction as he glanced at the Black sisters with a cruel smirk. "Bellatrix surpassed herself catering to my taste."
Bella glared murderously at Severus while Narcissa looked as if she had swallowed a bug. Tom felt pleased. Making Bellatrix choose Severus' special gift had been half the treat, and assigning to Narcissa the preparations had been part of it too. He knew that Narcissa hadn't had time to prepare the girl, but she had seen her —before and after— and that had been enough to make her both jealous and nauseous.
Tom's eyes met Severus', and he found the dark glint impossible to resist. The next moment he was inside the man's mind, walking into a fancy room and freezing at the unexpected sight of a red-haired girl chained to the bed. His heart beat faster, blood rushed south, memories of the hateful Mudblood that had dared to reject him filled his conscious mind. He could barely take his eyes off his prey as he warded the room, and suddenly he was standing over her, taking notice of the terrified green eyes, the bruises, the blood staining her Muggle clothes, overwhelmed by desire mixed with old resentment and smug satisfaction at the realization that his master held him in such high esteem. He roughly forced the delicate chin up, his cock hardening to the point of pain when he confirmed that he had been gifted a virgin, and then he buried a hand in the soft, auburn hair that seemed to tease him just as much as that bitch Evans had teased him. Enraged at those old memories, he gave the hair a brutal yank, relishing in the gasp of pain that escaped the girl as her head was tilted back and-
Severus broke the mental connection by forcefully turning his head away. Tom hissed in frustration. Severus' violent arousal was so extreme that it had made Tom painfully hard too, and he didn't appreciate to have been pushed out just when things were getting interesting. He had always wanted to see Severus in action, but the man was annoyingly zealous of his sexual privacy, to the point that he would risk his master's wrath with his refusal.
Tom clenched his teeth and reminded himself the decision he had made a long time ago of respecting that stubborn quirk of his subject even though he could easily break through his mental barriers or simple command him to let him watch.
He took out his frustration on Bellatrix.
"I distinctly recall to have added 'untouched' to the list of requirements for Severus' treat, Bella," he said coldly.
"It was!" she complained, narrowing her eyes at Severus. "I made sure she was as pure as a filthy Muggle can be, my Lord, I swear! Whatever he showed you it's a lie!"
"Are you suggesting I can be lied to?"
"I- No, my Lord, of course not, but-"
"Were the bruises a lie? The broken lip?"
Bella gaped at him in confusion for several seconds before understanding caught up with her and uneasiness joined anger in her eyes.
"I didn't think it would make much of a difference, my Lord," she tried to defend herself. "What is a broken lip next to everything else that Snape does to his victims?"
"By that reasoning it would have made no difference if you had brought me a used woman," interjected Severus with a derisive glance at Narcissa, who looked sickly pale. "I assure you I can tell the difference, Bellatrix."
Bella opened her mouth to retort, her face a furious red, but Tom cut her off.
"Leave us," he commanded, feeling suddenly weary of women. Fun as it was to make them squirm and scream, Tom preferred the company of men, considering two women in his inner circle already too much even if Bellatrix and Alecto were unusually bearable examples of the weaker sex. Narcissa had the redeemable quality of barely daring to speak in Tom's presence, but he still could only tolerate her for brief amounts of time and only for tormenting purposes.
Narcissa seemed all too happy to obey, but Bellatrix was shaking with rage as she walked out of the sitting room sending one last dark glare at her adversary, who ignored her in favour of calmly sipping his tea. Tom briefly entertained the idea of some day giving her to Severus to do with her as he pleased. Bella hadn't been as delicately appealing as Narcissa even before Azkaban, but she was wilder and harder to subyugate, which might make the offer tempting enough as for the private man to consent to make it an open event.
/
"I heard Dumbledore's funeral was an emotional affair," he commented once they were left alone, feeling a renewed surge of fury. It was simply outrageous that the old fool's whim of being put to rest in Hogwarts had been indulged when none of the Founders had been buried there. He intended to turn the tomb to sand and throw Dumbledore's body into a ditch somewhere far away as soon as he took control over the castle.
"Pompous and boring would be better terms to describe the event," drawled Severus. "Half the attendants were pretending to be grieving, and the other half were grieving a false image of Dumbledore." Severus shook his head, his lip curled in distaste. "The only interesting observation I have to report is that Potter and Scrimgeour went for a private walk along the lakeshore right after the funeral. The brat seemed to only reluctantly agree to the Minister's request, and I would guess he was uncooperative or even rude judging by Scrimgeour's foul mood afterwards. Apparently there is no lost love between them."
Tom's eyebrows rose in interest. He had already noticed that Potter was not openly cooperating with the Ministry, but he had assumed it had been simply because Dumbledore wanted the boy to focus on his studies.
"I had thought Potter would take to Scrimgeour better than to Fudge," he confessed. "Being an Auror and all."
Severus shrugged.
"Potter has plenty of reasons to resent and mistrust the Ministry," he said. "Perhaps if Scrimgeour had made an effort to win him over the boy might have considered to forgive and cooperate, but to this day Sirius Black's name has not been officially cleared and Umbridge is still free and about. I can't imagine Potter would be able or willing to let those injustices go."
Tom nodded thoughtfully. This was definitely interesting and useful information. He still had to decide what he would do with the boy, but even without a decision made he knew it would be advantageous for the wizarding population to know that Harry Potter didn't support the current government's administration. That would make people more open to a change of leadership.
Unfortunately it wasn't so easy to spread his side of the story these days, with the Ministry in control of the Daily Prophet. It would be ideal if Potter himself spoke up against Scrimgeour, like he had done last year using Skeeter and the Quibbler, but Tom didn't dare to hope the boy would be so helpful.
"Tell me about the Order meeting," he said, eager to get to the subject Severus no doubt had come to report on. "I trust it went well?"
"As well as I expected, my Lord. Moody predictably treated me like a traitor the entire time and tried his best to turn everyone against me, but he didn't find as much support as he had hoped. It is well known that Dumbledore trusted me, after all, not even Moody can argue with that." Severus' thin lips curled in a pleased smirk, his eyes briefly glazing over. Tom felt tempted to enter his mind to watch the entire meeting himself, but he was mentally exhausted after all the Legilimency performed that day so he settled for hearing his spy's blessedly concise report. "In the end, despite most people don't really doubt my allegiance, it was agreed that just in case I will be treated like a security risk. This means I will not be trusted with information about new members or Secret Keepers, nor will I be given access to any Fidelius except the one under which the general meetings of the Order will be held, nor will I be informed of any delicate plans."
Tom frowned. He had known that damned Auror would try to cut Severus out, but he had expected Severus to be able to negotiate a middle ground. It sounded like his spy would be completely useless from now on.
"I could have fought Moody's paranoia," admitted Severus, as if he had read his thoughts, "but my insistence might have raised suspicions. Pretending to be indifferent to the amount of information I was trusted with served to soothe any remaining fears and doubts that certain influential members like Shacklebolt or Lupin might have had. This made them more willing to accept me as Potter's new mentor."
Tom stared at him in disbelief. If not for Severus' expression of satisfaction and self-pride he would have been sure he had misheard.
"Of course," continued his cunning servant, "my access to Potter will still be somewhat limited, particularly during the holidays, since Moody doesn't trust I will not try to deliver the boy to you at the first opportunity. But even Moody is aware that you wish to deal with Potter yourself and therefore Death Eaters are not allowed to kill him, so in the end he had to admit that the brat will be relatively safe meeting in private with me as long as I can't get him out of Hogwarts' wards."
Incredulity was still strong in Tom's mind, but amusement and exultation were beginning to grow inside him as well.
"You managed to convince the Order of the Phoenix of making Harry Potter your ward?" he asked for confirmation.
"Indeed," said Severus with a smirk. "The first reaction was, predictably, complete disbelief and indignation, but after I informed them that Dumbledore had made me promise to take the boy under my wing if something ever happened to him people gradually came around. It especially helped to remind them that I was the only member of the Order capable of training the boy in Occlumency. I don't expect to have to actually teach that to the brat, but as far as the Order knows I will dedicate half our lessons to Occlumency and the other half to Advance Defence."
Tom shook his head, still finding hard to believe what he was hearing. He was well aware of Severus' persuasion skills, but the man had truly surpassed himself this time.
"What about the boy?" he asked. "Won't he deny your claim?"
"Potter was always kept in the dark by Dumbledore, I doubt it will come as a surprize to him that the old man assigned a backup mentor for him without telling him."
"He doesn't know yet, then?"
"No," said Severus with another cruel smirk. "I dare say he will not take the bad news well. But he is underage and I have the support of the Order so he will not have a choice in the matter." He lost himself in thought for several seconds. When he looked back at Tom and sighed the cruel gleam in his black eyes had been replaced by conflict. "Potter hates and mistrusts me, but he is also desperate and afraid. Dumbledore's death has left him clearly at a loss, overburdened with a prophesized fate he doesn't seem to know how to bring about. I think that might make him receptive to my guidance, especially if I cut him off from any other advice or help from the rest of the Order."
Tom nodded, pleased to see that Severus was taking his new task seriously and that he seemed to have the Order in his pocket and the boy ready to fall in his trap too. In only a few days he had already made considerable progress even if he hadn't yet began his work with Potter.
It was also interesting to notice that for moments Severus seemed not to completely hate Harry Potter anymore. He was making an effort for his master's sake, and also perhaps for the boy's sake, who had been so cruelly manipulated by Dumbledore. While Tom wasn't yet ready to let go of his own hate he thought it could only be beneficial for Severus to develop protective feelings towards his Horcrux. A true change of attitude from the man might even be the key to winning the boy's trust.
"Won't Dumbledore's portrait be a problem?" he asked after a few silent minutes. "He could easily deny that he ever named you Potter's next mentor, and McGonagall might tell the Order without you even knowing."
Severus shook his head.
"McGonagall is more loyal to me than to the Order, and I have given her specific instructions regarding Dumbledore's portrait. In any case, I am certain that the portrait will cover for me, since the old man died trusting me and my decision of mentoring the boy will probably make him disgustingly proud rather than suspicious."
Tom regarded his subject with approval and quiet admiration.
"It sounds like you have everything under control, Severus," he praised him. "I am pleased."
"I have merely secured an influential position next to Potter, my Lord," said the man humbly. "The true challenge is still to come. I doubt the boy will let me into his mind or into his confidence easily, but at least I will be able to spend time with him and hopefully instil in him some sense of self-preservation. I will endeavour to win his trust and find out what he knows, but it could take some time."
"Take as much time as you need," said Tom, not feeling that much patient but knowing that Severus would have to approach Potter carefully. "The priority is ensuring that the boy is not a threat to me or... to my soul. So until you can assess what he knows you are to make sure he doesn't learn anything new by talking to Dumbledore's portrait or to Slughorn, and that he doesn't act on whatever he might already know. Keep him busy and under watch."
"I will, my Lord."
Tom leaned back in his armchair and allowed himself to relax. Having such an efficient and dedicated servant in charge of the boy eased his mind considerably. With Dumbledore gone and the Order of the Phoenix naively supporting Severus' claim over Harry Potter things were looking a lot better than a week ago, and for the first time since he had learned about his accidental Horcrux Tom felt like he could afford to breathe.
The crisis had been contained as quickly and thoroughly as possible, and while Tom had lost multiple soul pieces before he had been made aware of the threat now everything was under control again and there was time to calmly decide how to proceed.
He knew it was late and Severus should return to the castle before his absence was remarked upon, but there was still a matter he had been waiting to discuss with him.
"I visited Grimmauld Place a few nights ago," he began. "It wasn't what I expected, I admit."
Severus nodded, his countenance darkening.
"It wasn't what I expected either, my Lord, when I first saw the place two years ago. Many years of neglect had robed the noble house of its reputed splendour, and the mutt made sure of stripping it of whatever treasures it still contained."
"Yes, I noticed the place seemed to have been... despoiled. The Blacks used to have a very valuable collection of dark objects, and yet there was no trace of it anywhere in the house."
"Black threw it all away," said Severus angrily. "I told Dumbledore that it was a waste, but the old man didn't even allow me to go through the stuff. He said it was Black's right to decide what to do with his family possessions."
Tom did his best to hide his frustration. He had hoped Severus might have had a chance to take a look around the house before anything had been taken away, but apparently that had not been the case.
"What did Black do with the dark collection?" he inquired. "Perhaps he sold it?"
"I don't think so. Black didn't care about gold, and he considered anything dark completely worthless. I ignore what he did with the stuff, however. I have no doubt that if it had been for the mutt he would have thrown everything into a muggle garbage bin and be done with it, but Dumbledore had more sense than him so he probably took care of disposing of the dark objects properly."
Severus pronounced the last words cautiously, plainly worried that Tom would take his ire on him. But Tom had already had time to process the loss of his Horcrux and to unleash his fury on multiple victims so he now managed to remain relatively calm. Everything pointed to Dumbledore having put his hands on the locket one way or another, be it through Regulus, or through the elf, or randomly going through the Blacks' dark collection.
There was a tiny chance that both the locket and the diadem might still be intact somewhere, though. Tom had intended to make discreet inquiries in Knockturn Alley, but in the current situation of open war making an appearance there would likely mean a bloody battle and it would make the Ministry wonder what he had been looking for. He had subjects he could send in his place, of course, but none that he could trust with this delicate matter.
None except Severus.