Here's the next chaper. Hope you all like it.
The area around Severus was calm and silent as the Dark Lord had himself arrived in the clearing; the clearing, where the remaining Death Eaters like him had been summoned after the battle. His face was completely hidden by the hood he was wearing but the presence was enough to give away his identity. Not to mention the glorious and calm aura, with which he gave his identity to them.
There were 16 captured members of their ranks, moreover the leader of the Death Eaters, the one who had been tasking them was also captured. Severus didn't knew the identity of that man but he knew enough that it was someone from a well to do family and was important in the Dark Lord's ranks.
"Everyone except those whose mark burns, apparate and go away," He commanded in a slow and silent voice which held a deadly presence in it.
Nearly all of the members present there apparated except three.
Severus was one of the members while the other two's identity was unknown to him.
"You three follow me," he said to the three members present there.
Severus silently followed the Dark Lord. He kept his mind calm and composed entirely as if he wasn't bothered in the least except a slight fear of the Dark Lord which he needed to be seen by the Dark Lord himself, which was seen at that exact same moment.
They reached to a room with two masked members present besides a door.
"You come with me, others stay behind," he said gesturing to the smallest one of their group. He was around four inches shorter than Severus and gray eyes could be seen behind the mask. Severus recognised those eyes, it were the eyes of Regulus Black.
Five minutes later, Regulus whom he had already identified exited from the room. He gestured to the guards, one of them understood the message and walked inside to the room.
Some moments later he exited out of the room and beckoned the man besides him to enter. The other death eater entered the room leaving him alone with the two guards there outside.
The guards didn't bothered to talk to him but he could feel their discreet measuring gazes at him sometimes.
Two minutes later, the other death eater who had entered, exited out calmly and nodded at the guards before walking away.
The guards gestured for him to enter as the other death eater walked to the previous hall where they had gathered, probably to apparate out of there.
Severus walked into the room calmly. He by now knew that Dark Lord was aware of how he might have decuded his disguised identity. It wasn't that hard to know after he showed his skill during the raid, killing 9 aurors in total with a single spell for each of them. During the whole time, he had only used nine spells and each one of them had hit the mark correctly.
He had however not engaged with Dumbledore and instead went to simply help the Death Eaters along with him. He inturn had knocked around 14 aurors today, rendering them unusable with curses. But not killing them.
The room was lit with candles and lamps nicely and Severus looked at the Dark Lord who was sitting alone in a throne like chair. There were many masked members present near him who in turn were sitting around him in chairs. Only the hair was visible along with the eyes of the other Death Eaters. Only the Dark Lord was not wearing a mask in the whole room.
"Hmm, I guess you must be wondering by now a little. About why I have called you?" The Dark Lord spoke slowly this time, his words enunciated properly.
"I do MLord," Severus replied back calmly.
"It so happens that I examine every raid properly, not to have fun with others usually, but to gauze the strength of some of the Death Eaters recruits. So that, I may judge the skilled ones and keep an eye on them," Voldemort spoke up calmly as his smooth voice travelled through the room.
"It is so that those who are good and catch my eye. Those who continue their good work, are rewarded. Rewarded to be my elites, my selected ones, the ones who are most precious to me," Voldemort continued. This time, there was a passion in his voice. A passion which was carried through the whole room as his hands went to the other Death Eaters present there with silver masks.
"You along with the other two have performed good today. I however see that you were not aiming to kill however. Regardless, do whatever suits you best. I will not say anything about the methods you use," Voldemort spoke up calmly as his face went to one that of approval.
"I want your opinion though, on a situation that I face currently," Voldemort said calmly as he looked at Severus with a little interest in his voice.
The other Death Eaters didn't moved or gave away anything which confused him a little for a moment.
"As you saw, the Leader of today's raid was captured by Dumbledore. He is one of my elites, as such he also holds the information about my other members. I find myself in a precarious postion due to it. What should I do to keep the identities of my brothers and sisters safe?" Voldemort asked curiously looking at him.
While he had already settled for an option in his mind, he wanted to hear thoughts of everyone in the meantime. The other two were posed the same questions and the inner circle was also going to discuss the matter after this whole initiation process. Information leak from Rodolphous Lestrange could result in the ruin of the reputation of notable families and names of some of his most trustworthy Death Eaters.
He cursed that old fool Dumbledore for arriving at the time of raid. He had received information that Rodolphous was going to be placed in a trial tomorrow. The Ministry was in dire need of information regarding Death Eaters in this time of war. Rodolphous' capture irked him though, he was a very important Death Eater of his ranks.
He already had half plans of killing Rodolphous this night to prevent the leak. Randolph was here and he was not going to accept his decision along with Rabastan. He wanted to check for any feasable plans which would be applicable to this situation apart from simply killing him. There was a mole in the aurors, a mole whose loyalty was to him alone. He could order Rabastan to be killed but he wanted to hear the ideas of others before that. He had conversed with the boy during the raid and loathe he was to admit it, the boy's opinions had been correct. He had known via legilimency that most of his followers were not fully loyal to him, they were loyal to him for their own reasons.
"There are various ways by which we can handle the situation M'Lord," Severus spoke up with a small guarded tone. The Dark Lord was an anomaly to him till now.
"Like?" Voldemort pressed on to hear more. The other two had simply suggested to kill the man or let him have an accident which may abort his trial for later.
"We can create an accident in which he along with some other aurors are hospitalised in Saint Mungos. Or we could kill him to secure the information regarding others," Severus said and he could see slight nervousness in the postures of two masked Death Eaters.
Voldemort nodded and was going to dismiss him when he heard him speak again.
"However, there's a third way too M'Lord," Severus spoke up with the same calm tone. He looked at the Dark Lord's curious face which clearly told him that he should continue on. He even saw some curious looks on some of the Death Eater's faces.
"I believe that our leader of the raid was from an influential family. And as such with his leak, there's a huge risk of possible defamation of other Noble families tied with his own. As such it will be best, if one of your ranks whose speciality lies in the mind arts and memory charms alike, go near him and erase his memory before the trial perfectly. Since his memory will be removed, no information would be divulged even if the Ministry forces Veritaserum in his case. The memory could later be given to him back since a user of the Mind Arts will be removing and erasing memory of his, not a novice. Since he will be sitting blank and no information could be given, we could claim that he was imperiused. This way there will be less problems that we face in the long run," Severus explained his idea to Lord Voldemort who seemed to be thinking it.
Voldemort himself was a little surprised at the plan. The plan involved a risk of getting caught but apart from it, it was actually nice. He caught the hidden meaning behind Severus' words. It would be the ideal way to not alienate other houses who will get more afraid and distrustful of him if he eliminated Rodolphous. If loyal ones like Lestrange could be eliminated, then the other allied ones will be suspicious of him and his intention. The idea presented before him was something which would be best in this situation.
"Your counsel is taken into account. You can leave till the next call," Voldemort said as he prepared himself for the next meeting, the meeting with his Death Eaters.
Severus gave a short bow of his head as he walked out of the room leaving Voldemort alone with his inner circle members.