Chapter 11

Voldemort was in a towering fury that would have sent many of his followers running for their lives. However, for the members of his Inner Circle, that option did not exist. They knew that if they so much did more then flinch, they risked being subjected to the crucio curse into insanity, or even outright killed.

Not only had the mysterious French auror survived his duel with Voldemort, he also escaped after he landed a particularly nasty cutting curse on Voldemort that sliced his cheek open and refused to heal. Not even the Potter's or the Longbottom's had been able to claim such a feat. This was nothing compared to the news that Macnair had just delivered.

"So..." Voldemort said slowly, his long fingers steepled together in front of his face. "You mean to tell me that even as all of Europe falls under my sway... with hundreds joining our cause each day... with the disgusting goblins on the retreat and sealing off their cities... you mean to tell me YOU COULDN'T KEEP TRACK OF HARRY POTTER?! CRUCIO!"

Macnair fell out of his chair screaming, his limbs flailing under the power of the anger fueled curse. Voldemort held the curse for a full minute before lifting it. Macnair lay on the floor gasping for breath.

"Return to your seat." Voldemort ordered him coldly. Macnair tried and failed twice to climb back into his chair before finally succeeding. "Pathetic." Voldemort spat. "Explain yourself!"

"M-my lord!"Macnair gasped out in protest. "We-we lost the trail after the team reconstructing where the portkey took Potter and his group were killed. The magical trail has since faded."

"Do you know who killed the team?" Voldemort asked sharply.

"No my lord." Macnair answered, trying to get his shaking under control. "However we found a wounded mud-blood from our attack earlier who claimed that it was a woman with long red hair and armed with a sword."

"Where is this mud-blood now?" Voldemort asked. Macnair gave a weak smile of glee.

"My ax thirsted for blood so I..."

"CRUCIO!" Voldemort bellowed, his fury putting so much power into the curse that Macnair was actually flung backwards out of his chair and into the wall behind him. "YOU FOOL! DID YOU NOT THINK THAT SUCH A WITNESS WAS BETTER OFF KEPT ALIVE?!" This time he kept the curse up till Macnair's voice broke from his screaming and his bowls voided themselves of their contents. He turned his attention to Narcissia Malfoy sitting to the right of him.

"Go." He ordered. "Remove the fool from my sight. See to it that he recovers or you will enjoy a taste of what he suffered." Narcissia stood up and bowed.

"Yes my lord." She answered. "It will be done." Drawing her wand, she levitated Mcnair off the ground and left the room with him. A rumor had started circulating among the Death Eaters that Voldemort was grooming her to replace Bellatrix, but few could agree on weither Narcissia was a willing part of this process or not.

"Now..." Voldemort said slowly, his anger coming back under control. "Tell me... what of the siege of Hogwarts? Has a weakness been found yet?"

"No milord." an older man at the far end of the table replied cliply. While Voldemort didn't like the fact that this man had served under Grindlewald, his experience in fighting against fortified enemies was undeniable, and was the logical choice to lead the siege. His insinuations that he may be able to bring substantial help to Voldemort only sweetened the deal. Now if only he could pronounce his name.

"Explain." Voldemort said coldly. The twitch of the end of his wand conveyed the non-verbal threat. To the man's credit, he locked eyes with Voldemort's and didn't flinch away.

"There have been significant developments since our last meeting. The Four Founders were more thorough in their plannings for defense then we ever realized. A large series of walls, clearly controlled by a rune array inside, has completely surrounded the castle. Combined with the wards, and the castle is almost impervious to a direct magical attack."

"Almost?" Voldemort asked coldly.

"There is a large nest of acromantula spiders in the forest, the largest that has ever been discovered in fact. We are trying to negotiate with them so that they can add their strength to any future assaults we make. We are also looking into trying to acquire muggle siege weapons. They won't do much against wards, but they should take out those walls."

Voldemort leaned back in his chair and grinned, sending shivers down several of his Death Eater's backs.

"Excellent." he said. "From now on, I want an update on the siege every twenty-four hours, no exceptions."

"Yes milord." the man said bowing his head slightly. "It will be done."

"Now," Voldemort said. "Except for Potter escaping, how does our campaign progress?"

"It goes well my lord." drawled the voice of Rookwood, who sat in the corner of the room where the shadows helped conceal him. "Many of the European pure bloods follow many of our ideologies and are flocking to your banner. The dredges of society are also joining us in hopes of riding our robes to a quick wealth. Many of the ministries are unable to mount a coordinated resistance, but we are having trouble with those aurors who survived the fall of their ministries and formed resistance movements. However, they will not last long."

"Good." Voldemort said with a nod. "What of the Veela colonies and the dragon reserves?"

"The Veela Mi'lord?" asked Yaxley, then cringed as he realized he had interrupted the Dark Lord. Voldemort glared at him, his wand twitching in his annoyance.

"Yes." he said finally, still glaring. "Some of you may assume that when we win the war that our work will be done. No. At that point our work is just beginning. It is not enough to have our world under our control. Once the war is over and the masses see that our vision is the correct path to the future, we will need to rebuild our world before we can subjugate the muggles. Careful control of the economy and enslaving the beast of our world is the key. The dragons, like giants and dementors, will be potent weapons in our war against the muggles. As for the Veela..." here Voldemort paused and an evil grin washed across his face. "Muggles are willing to pay even more for their services then we are, as they have no defense against their allure. Their enslavement, and we will enslave them all, will fund the war against the muggles. Once the war is done, we will use them and all other enslaved beasts to rebuild the whole world. Then.. and only then... we will exterminate them all to leave behind a cleansed world for the glory of the Purebloods!"

As Voldemort finished his speech, his inner circle stared at him in awe.

"My... my lord..." Rookwood said breathlessly. "We had no idea that your plans were so far reaching..." Voldemort smirked.

"Did you honestly think I was all power and no brains?" he asked in a sickly sweet voice. His wand twitched in his direction and Rookwood cringed.

"Pathetic." Voldemort snarled. "No... you don't get to where I am without the ability to plan months, even years in advance. Dumbledore and I were two chess grandmasters playing with a particularly smart set of wizard chess pieces. Now that their grandmaster is dead, the remaining pieces of his Order of the Flaming Bird are starting to fall. As soon as Potter falls, the world will be ours."

Voldemort leaned forward and fixed Rookwood with a steely stare. "Until Macnair recovers, you will also be searching for Potter. Perhaps you will do a better job then he did..." Rookwood grinned and bowed deeply.

"I will not let you down My Lord." he said confidently.

"See that you don't." Voldemort said, then waved his hand to dismiss his Inner Circle. He had plans to make.

A/N: Yes, I know, a much shorter chapter then what you are used to or expecting. It's officially a filler, and a chance for you to see how Voldemort thinks. Not 100% happy on weither I made him seem evil genius enough, so I may come back at a later date and rewrite it.

Until next chapter, stay up to no good!