Title: Bell Jars
Characters: Hermione, Voldemort
Other characters: various
Prompt: 018: Black
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 782 words
Summary: He calls it his museum, a still homage to the past. Also for the Sectumsempra Challenge at Darkones.

---

He calls it his museum, a still homage to the past. He considered portraits, then sculptures, to adorn his chambers, but chose this instead.

It is better to enjoy their faces now when they're dead, when their bodies are frozen, drifting in the potion around them, young, old, sick, healthy, ripped from spells or unblemished, perfectly preserved in their last moments or properly arranged.

At first, they floated, hair wild in the liquid, but it has been years, and there is no movement in the water to make them float.

He walks from one to the other almost every night, eight glass jars glowing green in the light.

The first jar is Draco Malfoy. Lucius asked him why he did not want Harry Potter as his first piece, why pristine Harry Potter floated with the decayed Albus Dumbledore down in the entrance hall and not in his room, why Draco was a trophy, and not Harry? Voldemort relished Lucius's hurt, but the boy was quietly his, his Dark Mark displayed with a torn sleeve. He wanted Draco there, a reminder of betrayal, potential, for his Death Eaters and for himself. And he tasted Lucius's agony every audience with him as Voldemort paced between the eight.

The second jar is Ronald Weasley, followed by his sister, Ginny Weasley. When Lucius told him of his diary Horcrux opening the Chamber of Secrets in his stead by possessing Ginny - the girl who Harry loved, he felt in his dreams of worms crawling under his skin. These two were footnotes in Harry Potter's life - no one remembered them, although Harry Potter died trying to protect them - but Voldemort remembered their artless fervor. They earned their place here with pure fire. The color of their hair had faded slightly, but it was still the brightest color in the open room created for them. Sometimes he hears a whisper of himself from the girl, but most days, there is silence.

The fourth jar contained the tortured, broken body of Severus Snape. This was a different sort of betrayal than Draco's, for it surprised him, even hurt him to have Severus whip around and curse him when he had the perfect opening to kill Harry. It had been in vain, yes, but Severus was one of his favorites, if he could be said to have favorites. No friend, but what he thought was a good servant. Whereas Draco's body was beautiful in its purity, Voldemort had torn this one with its own spell that it created. And now he was still in his own potion - except sometimes he moved. Voldemort did not know why.

The fifth jar held the body of Neville Longbottom, bruised and doubled over like a fetus, but Voldemort liked to look at the boy that could have been. Luna, his prophetess rolling about pillows and quiescent, softly protested his presence in the chambers, but she did not protest too hard, and he never killed her.

The sixth jar is Minerva McGonagall. He remembered her when she was young, when her hair was completely black and there were no wrinkles on her face. He looked at her, saw ravages of age and time, looked at his distorted reflection along the curve of the jar, and felt relief. Her form made him smile.

The seventh jar is Alastor Moody - simply that he finally caught the old goat was an achievement, especially after his servant made the man far more cautious than he already was. The seventh is a proper trophy, and he is proud to have it in his collection.

The eighth jar brought him in a full circle so that he is across from Draco Malfoy. He thought it fitting to have Draco stare at a Mudblood for the rest of his internment, but the irony is only part of saving her for last. He had been close to putting her in the same jar as Dumbledore and Harry and withdrew her at the last minute to his chamber. She was unmarked, in her Hogwarts uniform, with a prefect's badge and Head Girl's pin in her pocket, one of Harry Potter's best friends, and when he killed Harry, she whirled around to hit him with a Cruciatus. It hit him full force, and he fell back - that alone gave her a place among the others. He killed her when the spell grew weak twenty seconds later, watched as she was placed into her jar and drifted down. He kept her badge and pin in a box he placed next to the jar.

Walking from one to the other in a full circle, and he is pleased with his collection.