Author note: Just a brief glimpse of a meeting at the clubhouse of doom.
Voldemort sat at the head of the table. Looking down the long polished obsidian piece of furniture he counted heads and saw that all of his inner circle were present. He smiled and began the meeting.
"Lucius. How does our takeover of the Ministry progress?" he calmly droned.
"It is almost complete. Scrimgeour is dead. The Daily Prophet will announce that along with a very well worded eulogy tomorrow. All Ministry departments have been taken over by our people." Lucius calmly stated.
"And those such as Bones, Weasley and Longbottom?"
"They have disappeared my lord." Lucius confessed uncomfortably.
"There seems to be quite a few people disappearing. Tonks. Most of the Hogwarts staff. That delightful woman Umbridge. Why are these people all disappearing? And even more importantly HOW are they disappearing right under your nose?" Voldemort tersely demanded.
Lucius shifted uncomfortably, the two members on either side of him shifted slightly away from him. "I am not entirely certain. It would seem their house-elves are possibly involved."
"House-elves? Those pitiful creatures." Voldemort laughed, causing a few around the table to chuckle as well. "You are being outsmarted by animals Lucius. Perhaps I should replace you with one of them eh?"
Lucius looked uncomfortably at his leader, "No sire. That will not be necessary. I will find them."
"Good do so. Now Selwyn speaking of animals, how goes your daughter's new pet?" Voldemort dismissed Lucius without any further thought.
Selwyn bowed from his chair, "She has him completely brainwashed sire. He had tried to have a plan to lie to her. He thought he might be able to resist her. He thought he could make us believe he had joined us then betray us later. However Beatrice is quite proficient with her spellwork and he believes that they are engaged in a passionate sexual relationship. He will do whatever she asks of him."
"So what of your idea to use him and his mother as bait to draw Potter out?" The Dark Lord asked casually.
Selwyn licked his lips quickly before saying, "Given their mistreatment and hatred for Potter we do not know how much effort he would be willing to expend to rescue them."
"So this was not as beneficial as you claimed it would be?" He asked staring at Selwyn pointedly.
"Well we have made certain that the information has been spread among those who are known to associate with the undesirables it just may take a bit longer to reach him than we had thought." Selwyn tried to explain. "Until then we are using him to cause chaos and mayhem among the muggles. He does have a small group of his own."
Voldemort leaned back and thought for a few moments. Letting the silence grow until he smiled, "And just how are they causing chaos and mayhem?"
Selwyn gulped, "Uh terrorizing the neighborhood. Bullying people, vandalism. The usual sort of things he would do."
Voldemort laughed, "These are muggles, they are not worth holding back on. Escalate their crimes. Have him begin raping, plundering, pillaging. I want there to be arsons and violence. A few little murders here and there. I WANT anarchy among the muggles." he gleefully stated.
"Those sorts of crimes run contrary to his core personality. He is a thug but not a violent criminal. He may begin to resist her control." Selwyn stated nervously.
"Then have her imperious him. Or you go and do so yourself. But he is nothing more than a pawn to be sacrificed in my grand plan! Same as you or your daughter Selwyn. Never forget that." Voldemort thundered, rising to slap the table with both hands making everyone jump.
Selwyn nodded, "Yes my lord." He stammered.
"The mudblood girl? Her parents are among those missing as well?"
Rodolphus Lestrange was kicked under the table by his brother causing him to grunt, "They are among the missing."
"The old hippie Lovegood?" He asked patiently.
Rodolphus hesitated then grunted quietly, "Uh. Missing as well."
Voldemort stiffly flexed his fingers over his wand. Nagini perked up wondering if she was going to have a snack.
Bella spoke up though, "If I may be permitted to take over the task of finding these people. I will not fail you my lord." She spoke quickly and obsequiously.
"Ahh Bella. You are my favorite follower. Very well I will give you the task to find and capture these tools. They will become bait for Potter and his pals." he chuckled.
"Yes my lord. I will ensure victory!" Bella purred.
Sitting back down Voldemort took a deep breath, "So the Ministry is ours, the school is the only other thing we have to ensure is under our control."
Snape leaned forward, "I have taken full control of the school, including the wards as McGonnegal is one of those who left. The half-giant and the goblin departed as well. Slughorn has been, convinced, to remain as have Trelawny, Sprout and a few of the others. I will need a new matron, defense professor, muggle studies, magical creatures, charms and transfiguration."
"So. Do you have any ideas on whom you would like to fill those positions?" Voldemort asked.
"I was hoping to have the Carrows join my staff, Macnair as creature hunter, and anyone you would recommend of course my lord." Snape graciously stated.
"It would be an excellent opportunity my lord for my experiments on magical development among adolescents to be tested." Healer Van Gelder crowed.
Voldemort nodded, "True as long as none of the proper families find their progeny experimented on. Just remember to limit yourself."
Van Gelder bowed, "Of course my lord."
"Lucius work with Severus to staff Hogwarts. The future of our world must be molded by the best and brightest minds." Voldemort stopped then shaking his head, "On second thought, Severus just work directly. Lucius will be too busy, not failing again."
Severus gave a slight smirk before bowing, "Yes my lord."
"So we have Hogwarts, we have the Ministry, We have the Daily Prophet. We have Saint Mungo's?"
"Yes my Lord." Tristan Adams reported. He was son of Galen Adams the head of the hospital. "Father is being imperioused. We will have full control over who has access to the medical center and be able to bring in any muggle-borns and half-bloods from unworthy houses."
Voldemort rubbed his hands together happily, "Excellent my friends. Excellent. Then carry out your tasks. I want the muggle government overwhelmed with chaos, with crime, make them live in fear and cry out in terror! Then we will provide them the solution, we will step out of the shadows and take control. Control over both halves of our world. We will make them beg us to help save them. We will give them safety, and security. We shall save them, but only at a price. They will become our slaves and they will be happy about it. They will willingly surrender to us to give them safety and security. To protect them. Hail Mortus!"
"Hail Mortus!" All of the Death Eaters called out loudly.
Voldemort stood and left as his followers began to spread to attend to their assigned tasks.
Review Responses
Dennisud: Thank you. As more and more things started to happen outside of our main cast of heroes I was going to be showing little snippets of those activities. Flipping the spotlight around so that others can shine as well.
OfficerDonNZ: Yeah I thought a bit of lightness would be a good thing and the elf gang fit the bill. As for Hermione she will get it figured out in due time.