A/N I didn't expect to get around to Dacarus until a bit later, but when a story wants to write itself, you just have to let it write itself. Just explaining right now that Marvolo and Lycus are going to be referred to with different names based on the situation, and I'm sure you'll all catch onto it when you start reading the instances where I switch between them.

Updated as of 11/24/21

Enjoy.

Marvolo took some time to walk around and enjoy being corporeal again, giving Lycus just a little bit of time to read whatever book he was on now. Marvolo knew the layout of the Valerian Manor well enough, having spent a lot of time there in the past three years. Spectre or not, he was still able to roam around, though only in very short bursts. Plus he had spent nearly the whole time with Lycus, so he knew the teens' habits well. It was because of this that he had no need to seek help to find the library, where he correctly assumed Lycus went to read that book he mentioned. That he ended up not running into Anton or Villa was mere chance.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed by the boy's talent at ancient runes - creating a body with specifications to be an exact and true copy of someone is anything but easy. Then again, this was the kind of thing that the Dark Lord should be provided with by his followers. He should not have come to expect anything less than the best from them, but his experiences led him to do so.

And now he found himself in a position where he had only three followers. A significant reduction to his prior army, but so far, the skills provided were making up for it. And while he would never admit it, he felt mildly lucky to have them.

Seeking out the Valerians had been a gamble on his part, and they were the hinges on which his door needed to swing in order for his plans to succeed. The Valerians were the only ones to wholly refuse to take the Dark Mark - claiming that they could be more useful if they didn't have to worry about being found out. At the time, Voldemort had been angry with them for this, eventually casting them away, even almost deciding to kill them for their insolence. As was the case, their decision to not be branded worked in his favour. They were never under any suspicion, and therefore were the most secure bet in being able to return quietly. He knew this, even as a spectre, and began planning his return with them in mind. If they had decided to cast him away as he had done to them years ago, he would have had to resort to other means of returning.

But that didn't happen. Marvolo found that they had stayed loyal to him throughout the years. Lucky indeed. Again, not that he would ever admit such a thing.

The Valerians had gone one step further even, cultivating a gift for him upon his return. That gift was Lycus, their son, who from birth was taught that he was to be an obedient and valuable servant to the Dark Lord. Obedience seemed like it went through one ear and out the other with Lycus, who was willful over subservient. But that trait had shown itself to be advantageous, so the Dark Lord tolerated it.

Marvolo stepped into the great Valerian Library, shaking himself from his musings. He had been there before of course, but the immense and grand room still gave him pause. He stood on a wide balcony that oversaw the entirety of the library, with a staircase leading down to the ground floor on his right, and one leading up a floor to the left. These staircases were mirrored on the other side, along with another door. The upper floor was smaller and felt more quiet, more of a studious space. He knew from his time here a long time ago that there was one more floor above that one, smaller still, which had a glass dome for a ceiling in case one of the introverted Valerians felt like seeing some sun or stargazing. The ground floor, however, was a massive chamber filled with columns and rows and walls of books, scrolls, and tomes, with several levels of extended, wide balconies along the walls, all of which held tables and seats in various places. The center of the room was vast and empty, and, as Marvolo had the pleasure to experience once, doubled as a ballroom.

What those scrolls and tomes held, Marvolo didn't know. Villa practically hoarded books as a hobby, ensuring that they could be about any number of things, and in any number of languages.

He shook his head as he turned from the height of Ravenclaws gone wild to go up the staircase to his left, knowing that's where Lycus would be. He adopted a sly look when he spotted the teen engrossed in a leather-bound book of some sort, making his way over with a stride worthy of a new and improved Dark Lord. After spending the better part of three years with the teen, he knew that interrupting his reading would annoy him. As predicted, Lycus glanced up at him, sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and closed his book, convinced he'd never be able to finish it with the Dark Lord now in a physical body.

"I hope you didn't forget that we need to make you a new necklace." Marvolo said as he approached the boy.

Lycus ran a hand through his hair again. "To be honest, I figured you would want to take some time having half a soul again before splitting it."

While Marvolo did just spend thirty minutes roaming for that exact reason, he'd never admit it. An eyebrow raise 'confirmed' this was not the case before Marvolo expressed it in words. "Of course not. Being without a horcrux is a liability." Lycus nodded at this whilst silently emitting another sigh, putting his book in his bag and standing up.

Lycus was often quite sarcastic towards Marvolo, but he was still a dutiful servant, and he knew when he had duties to attend to. He bowed before Marvolo and vocalized this stance, playing the perfect servant, "I apologize for my oversight, my Lord. I already have the necklace ready. Would you like for me to find someone for you to kill, or would you rather go out yourself?"

This curbed Marvolo's mild displeasure at his follower's error. He was used to a sarcastic Lycus though, so an obedient one was... odd. As such, the actions also caused him to feel just a bit awkward, a new feeling for the Dark Lord. "We shall head out soon. I am in need of a new wand, however, and will have to use yours for the task," was his decision.

"Of course, my Lord. I will be sure to call a wandmaker when we get back for a replacement." Lycus said, drawing out his tone in a familiar way, still bowing to his Lord.

"Get up already, Lycus. You're no Draco Malfoy." Marvolo breathed out, refusing his body's desire to cross his arms. Lycus complied, raising with a smirk that told of his dubious reason for his minion behaviour. Sometimes Marvolo wondered why Lycus wasn't made a member of the house of silver and green.

"Certainly not. I'm simply preparing you for your future," Lycus replied, still with the smirk and a humourous inflection.

With that out of the way, Marvolo briefly pondered the idea of a custom wand. He enjoyed the idea of a custom made wand, but knew that such things tended to take time to create, and he didn't want to wait much more than a day or two to get his own wand. It would certainly take longer than that for a wand to be made. "We will be taking a trip to a wand shop for a temporary wand, perhaps after my horcrux is made. We can call a wandmaker later."

Lycus decided not to question why they wouldn't get a temporary wand first, correctly assuming that Marvolo had his horcrux as the top priority.

Marvolo didn't give any time for another response, instead turning and walking away from Lycus, "Come, Lycus. There is someone out there that requires death." He said jovially. The sound of footsteps behind him let him know Lycus was following.

Marvolo found his way to the nearest parlour within the manor, knowing that each one held a fireplace that could be used for flooing. He supposed that it may be a good idea to let Anton or Villa know that they were going to be gone for a short while, but at the same time, he didn't want to bother with that. It's not as though he needed their permission.

He had just stepped in front of the fireplace when Lycus spoke up, "Marvolo, I believe that you should put on a few glamours before leaving the manor."

The Dark Lord mentally facepalmed, turning around and approaching the servant that had just provided a pretty good reason for being a member of the house of blue and bronze. Lycus had already brought out his wand, too, offering it to Marvolo, who took it and waved it over his body to make adjustments to his appearance. He took inspiration from the Valerians, going for wavy blond hair, though of a more strawberry variety, hazel eyes, and a tall lean figure with some effeminate facial features. He gave a smile meant to charm. "How do I look?"

Lycus gave him a droll look, "Like Dacarus the Enchanter."

"And who might that be?"

He was given a shrug in reply, "Some guy from a few hundred years ago. He was known as the Enchanter because he had 'a beauty unlike any other, able to enchant those around him with just a look'." Air quotes were given to emphasize that these were not the words of Lycus.

Enchanting was certainly one way to describe the look Marvolo had chosen. He grinned an alluring grin at this information, thinking of how that worked in his favour when it came to interacting with people. The more distracting he was, the better.

"With that grin, you kind of look like the less annoying cousin of Lockhart," Lycus said through a quiet laugh.

"Who?" Marvolo asked as he waved Lycus's wand over its owner to give him some glamours as well - he didn't want anyone to recognize Lycus, as that may bring attention to them. Well, more attention than they would have already if Marvolo really did look "enchanting."

Marvolo had something in mind when putting a glamour on Lycus. A book he read once when he was young had a character named Arnou, a black wolf with violet eyes. He never could remember the story surrounding the wolf, but he remembered the wolf well enough. The violet eyes were unnatural, so he couldn't provide those. But long black hair and elegant yet strong features, certainly. He quickly chose to give Lycus dark blue eyes to compliment the dark hair. He nodded in satisfaction at the end result. If Arnou the wolf had ever been human, Marvolo was certain this is what he'd look like.

"Nobody of importance," was the reply to Marvolo's question, but Lycus caught on to the fact that this appearance wasn't quite as randomly chosen as Marvolo's was, and brought that up, "And who might I be?"

"A wolf named Arnou. If Arnou were human." Marvolo was oddly happy with his choice of character to recreate, but Lycus did not deem it worthy to mention.

Instead, he brought up an idea, "So are we going to go by Dacarus and Arnou while we are in public?"

Marvolo found that both amusing and ingenious, which was made clear by his laugh. "Yes. Yes we are." He stowed the wand away in his own robes since he was the one who was going to be needing it in the near future, receiving no complaints from the owner, and then turned away from said amused teen. He grabbed a handful of floo powder, throwing it into the fireplace before stepping in and calling out "Leaky Cauldron."

Lycus was shaking his head as he followed his 'Dark' Lord to the Leaky Cauldron.

When he stepped out of the fireplace, Lycus found that the Dark Lord had become someone quite different than he was used to. Perhaps it was that he wasn't seeing the Dark Lord, but Dacarus. That's what he decided to believe, as this wizard was charming up a storm already, and Lycus couldn't have been more than a couple minutes behind him.

Lycus followed suit with non-Lycus behaviour. While he didn't know anything about Arnou, he could gather a few tidbits of how he should act from both his glamoured appearance and by how Dacarus acted. If Dacarus was going to actively charm people and give them his attention, then Arnou needed to be a bit more laid-back and quiet, making sure that his friend didn't get too lost in socializing.

Lycus stepped quietly to where Marvolo was talking to the barman. Apparently, it was a conversation so exhilarating that the people around Marvolo were paying close attention to it.

"...associated with kids who skip school because of that, but there is no real correlation between the two," was what Lycus caught being said by the barman when he got close enough to hear. And as much as he wanted to continue listening to what had to be a fantastic discussion, he had a book he wanted to get back to as soon as possible, and he was sure that Marvolo didn't actually want to be talking to anyone here.

Lycus considered his approach for a few seconds. Arnou and Dacarus were supposed to be friends, or so he assumed, but it was still the Dark Lord that he would be interrupting. And he would have no way of knowing if this annoyed Marvolo until after they were away from other people.

He chose the safe route of walking up and politely clearing his throat, gaining the attention of Marvolo and the barman, which had the accidental effect of drawing all eyes on him.

He gave the people an apologetic smile before turning his attention to Marvolo, "Sorry to interrupt, Dacarus, but we don't have all day. You can always come back later."

Marvolo nodded and turned back to the barman to say goodbye. He waved at the surrounding people when walking by, receiving some farewells in return.

Marvolo turned to him when they got outside with that charming grin, "Those were lovely people, weren't they Arnou?" He started walking down the path, expecting Lycus to follow. He did.

Lycus didn't really care all that much about how lovely the people in the Leaky Cauldron were, but he wasn't supposed to be Lycus right now. "Indeed, Dacarus. You wouldn't happen to be thinking about coming back to chit chat some more, would you?"

Marvolo - or rather, Dacarus - hummed in contemplation. "I'm not sure. They seemed agreeable enough, but we both know how the wizards of Britain are. Only time will tell."

Lycus agreed with that notion, catching the hidden meaning behind the statement. He hadn't expected the Leaky Cauldron to be one of the locations where they would find people who would concede their cause.

They spent some time just walking, Marvolo appearing to know where he was going, Lycus content to just follow along. It was a good ten minutes later when they made a sudden turn into an alley. It didn't take long to see why.

There was a person in the dark alley, sitting against the wall asleep, obviously homeless. The perfect target.

Marvolo once again brought out Lycus's wand and put up a few charms that would make sure they weren't disturbed. He held out his hand, to which a pendant identical to one from before was placed. He walked up to the sleeping muggle, pointed the wand at him, and spoke the words that brought death faster than any other spell, "Avada Kedavra."

A bright green flash flew out of the wand and hit the muggle, and it was done. Marvolo handed the pendant to Lycus, who put it on, hiding it under his shirt. Lycus frowned minutely at the dead body, ever so slightly disturbed at Marvolo's ease in using the killing curse. It wasn't supposed to be easy, but it seemed Marvolo didn't even need to think to use it.

That wasn't important though. The Dark Lord had a horcrux again, though this would be the only one he made unless it was broken. And if it were to be broken, that would mean that Lycus failed his most important task of all, and would be on the receiving end of every painful but non-fatal curse Marvolo knew for an undetermined amount of time. Multiple times.

Lycus understood this, of course, and would easily give his life to protect the horcrux. He would even more easily take the life of someone trying to destroy it.

Marvolo handed Lycus his wand back and strode out of the alley, going back in the direction they came from.

"Shall we be going to pick up a temporary wand for you?" Lycus asked, walking alongside Marvolo now as he knew where they were headed.

He received a nod in response, as well as a location, "We will go to Ollivander's. Let's hope he doesn't recognize me." Marvolo smirked at that thought. "If he does, I'm sure he'll be too shocked to defend against any oncoming curses."

Even if Ollivander wasn't shocked enough to be rendered an easy target, Lycus knew it was still expected of him to be able to react quick enough to prevent Ollivander from doing anything. This included putting up charms that would defend against people knowing what was going on, as well as fire curses at Ollivander to render him dead. His training should see that as an easy accomplishment, but he knew to never be careless enough to rely on skill alone. Your skill and speed in casting spells doesn't matter if you don't pay attention to when you need to cast them.

The two 'friends' spoke about trivial things on the way back to the Leaky Cauldron. More specifically, Lycus asked what Marvolo and the barman were talking about, finding that it was about an Irish pastry known as Gur cake.

They entered the Leaky Cauldron, drawing a few eyes. Dacarus was kind enough to let them know ahead of time that he was simply passing through and couldn't stay to chat. They went out the back, and Lycus tapped the familiar pattern on the brick wall, opening up Diagon Alley.

Lycus had never liked loud bustling places, and Diagon Alley was certainly one of them. Therefore, he didn't like Diagon Alley. Marvolo, thankfully, found no pleasure in hanging out in Diagon Alley for longer than necessary either, and they promptly found themselves arriving at Ollivander's.

The man well known for his spooking of children was nowhere to be seen among the musty and dusty shop. Probably hiding in the back for a poor unsuspecting soul to try and terrify. Or maybe he was sleeping. He was a wandmaker, and it was likely very rare for people to come in all that often during winter. Hibernating would be a completely understandable course of action to avoid such boredom.

The two waited patiently for the old wizened man to come out of hiding. By come out of hiding, it is of course meant that Ollivander appeared abruptly from the shadows, creeping towards the counter while staring intently at the two wizards.

"Ah, a customer. Looking for a temporary wand. No matter. Are you right handed or left? Hold your arms out, please, I need to take a few measurements."

Marvolo complied, not bothering to question the old man about how he knew he was looking for a temporary wand. Typical Ollivander. It was even more typical that the wandmaker paid no heed to the tape measure doing its measurements, instead simply pulling out a few boxes and placing them on the counter, to then put them all back and pull out one particular box that seemed to be making noise.

"Temporary wands tend to be easier to match as they are not going to stay with you. However, might I incline you to perhaps consider taking a permanent wand? This one seems to be very interested in you." Ollivander gave Marvolo a sophic smile as he took the wand from the box. It was humming.

Confusion was apparent on Dacarus's face as he took the wand from Ollivander. It reacted to Dacarus's touch with a flashing of light and a cessation of that hum.

"Vine is a curious material that no other wandmaker uses. It is much more sensitive to magic than any other type of wood, making it able to detect a suitable witch or wizard by simply being near it. I dare say that this wand has chosen to be yours, regardless of whether you meant to leave with a permanent wand," was the given explanation. An explanation that was very much appreciated by the other two wizards.

But Ollivander had another thing to say, something that he hoped would convince this customer to keep the wand, "It's core is of unicorn hair, the most loyal and consistent of the cores. If you choose not to keep it, the unicorn hair within is likely to deteriorate."

Marvolo looked up at Ollivander at the mention of the core being unicorn hair. Lycus didn't know whether to laugh at the idea of the Dark Lord having a wand with unicorn hair choose him, or to rub the bridge of his nose in silent pity. He settled on neither, though was still laughing a little bit on the inside.

Dacarus slowly nodded his head in understanding. "I see. In that case, I suppose I'll have to keep it. It'd be cruel to do otherwise." He paid the fee to a happy Ollivander and left the shop with Lycus close behind.

Lycus had a playful smirk on his face, though he didn't say anything. He wouldn't risk the wrath of Marvolo over a few teasing quips. Marvolo still caught on to his amusement, awarding Lycus with a half-hearted glare. In all his training of self control, Lycus had never thought that it would end up including controlling his laughter. He appeased himself knowing that he could laugh all he wanted when in the manor, rooms and floors away from Marvolo.

Instead of heading towards the Leaky Cauldron, as Lycus expected, they maneuvered their way to Magical Menagerie. He supposed that it may be because Magical Menagerie has a floo connection, but there was always a chance that the Dark Lord just wanted a pet. Or to look at the cute puffskeins.

Marvolo was going in the direction of the floo, but paused next to a cage. Without looking, he addressed Lycus, "Arnou, you wouldn't happen to have a decent amount of money on you right now, would you?"

Lycus approached Marvolo and the cage with curiosity as to what could be so intriguing that Marvolo may actually want to buy it. "I am prepared for all occasions, Dacarus. This includes spur of the moment shopping. I doubt that whatever it is you're looking at will be a problem to pay for."

It was a relatively delighted grin that was returned at this information. "Good. Otherwise I would have sent you to go get enough for this." Marvolo turned towards the counter where the sales lady was standing, blushing and constantly glancing up and down at him. He put on his grin and walked over to see about buying whatever was in the cage. It was apparent, even without hearing the conversation, that it wasn't for sale.

As Dacarus was charming the sales lady into letting him buy whatever was in the cage, Lycus took a look for himself at what had Marvolo so excited. He wasn't disappointed, as he was greeted with the slim angular head of an indigo snake. A snake that was super cute. What was better than that, however, were the telltale protrusions on the snakes head: four little horns were growing out of the top of its head, two on each side, the ones in front slightly smaller than the ones in back. The horns were ivory in colour, and could only be a couple centimeters in length at most. The snake itself was probably only about six inches long. But what truly caught Lycus's attention was the marquise shaped periwinkle gem in the center of its forehead, which matched the colour of its eyes. Eyes that were staring right back at Lycus. He couldn't help but smile at the cute creature.

It didn't take a Ravenclaw to know that this was no ordinary snake, but it did take more than the average British wizard to know that this was a horned serpent. They were native to North America, so seeing one here in Britain was a bit of a shock. Lycus wondered how they got their hands on one.

Dacarus walked over with a look that let Lycus know he won the right to buy the horned serpent. Lycus shook his head in disbelief - no amount of charm would ever make him sell a horned serpent in his possession - and made his own way over to the counter to pay while Marvolo took the cute little snake out of the cage. The sales lady was still eying Dacarus when he got to the counter.

Ignoring the lady's reaction to Dacarus, he casually asked how much it would cost, handing over the given amount. It was way too low of a price in his opinion, but he purported that she had no idea just how valuable horned serpents were.

With Marvolo a much happier man with his cute little snake wrapped around his wrist, they flooed back to the manor.

They arrived in the main parlour, glamours melting away as they did, finding Lycus's mother lounging on a sofa reading a book. Book reading may or may not run in the family. She looked up at the entrance of the Dark Lord and her son, a smile appearing on her face once she recognized who came through the fireplace.

"Welcome back, my Lord. It is good to see you back in your body." She turned her sights on her son right after that comment, making a playful jibe at his expense, "I hope that my son has proven useful for you now that you don't have to rely on him to carry you around, otherwise I will have wasted fifteen years of my life."

Lycus gave her a dry look, followed by a rolling of the eyes. Marvolo replied with an impish grin, ready to tease the poor teen along with her. "Lycus has proven adequate so far. Even his wand was agreeable with me. I don't suppose you'd know just how agreeable the wand that you gave him would be?"

Villa laughed at Lycus's somewhat reddening face, but wasn't willing to continue the joke quite that far, "I'm afraid not, my Lord. If you want to find a mother who can answer that, you'll have to go to the Goyles. But I'm sure Lycus would have no issue in letting you find out if it so pleases you."

Both of the males shuddered at the implication that the Goyles were actively incestuous, and Lycus was partially covering his face with one hand by pinching the bridge of his nose as a way to act as if nobody could see him blushing.

He found that he did not enjoy being in a room that housed both his mother and his Lord.

Marvolo glanced at Lycus with a mischievous look, "That is an enticing thought, Villa. I might just have to go through with it, too." His eyes were the only thing that betrayed the fact that this was merely jest, as was his next sentence. "But alas, I find myself in need of tending to a serpent, and shall have to hold that thought for later." With that, he strolled out of the parlour, hissing to the snake that was wrapped around his wrist.

Lycus threw his mother a light scowl as he left the parlour himself, intent on finding one of her scrolls on death before your time. For research purposes only, of course.