Chapter 2 - Charity Burbage
"Peacocks," Yaxley scoffed when a man with curtain-like black hair strode up beside him outside the gates of a large, iron-gated manor.
Snape was almost annoyed and in a hurry. He flicked his wand and they entered effortlessly through the bars which turned to smoke before sealing once again behind them. Yaxley thought, but dared not ask, the recently pronounced second in command where he had been or why he was late. The dark lord was clear that the man who killed Albus Dumbledore was not to suffer any question of loyalty from this point onward.
They entered the Malfoy's lavish drawing room and rounded the corner into a dining room inhabited by dozens of death eaters, with Lord Voldemort sitting patiently at the hilt of the table. Snape stopped at the sight of a suspended woman he recognized in the corner and then down at Draco where he sat looking intently at his hands to avoid seeing the same mutilated and tortured body above him.
"Severus, Yaxley..." Voldemort hissed. "Very nearly late," he added. Yaxley took a seat nearest Dolohov, and Snape sat to Voldemort's immediate right.
"Is there news about where she might be?" Voldemort asked evenly.
"Nothing beyond speculation at the current moment, my Lord," Snape answered smoothly. "According to the source we discussed, the Order has been in limited to no contact with one another since they fled the school, my Lord," he explained. "It is not believed she is currently residing in any of the places she has previously or with anyone she had previously traveled with, they would be taking every precaution," he continued.
"Where had she hidden previously, do you know?" Voldemort asked with a tone of bitterness to his voice that the team set out to hunt the Potter girl down for more than a year had not managed to accomplish it.
"The exact locations were not disclosed to anyone in the Order except who she traveled with. She was spotted in Innsbruck, and I gathered she likely stayed in Bulgaria, Paris, Ireland, Switzerland, and Egypt for very short stunts of time prior to returning to school last year, my Lord," Snape recalled. "She traveled primarily with Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks at the time. Though it is confirmed that she is not with them now," Snape continued.
"Well yes... naturally. Bellatrix, Narcissa, are you aware your niece has married a werewolf?" Voldemort asked scathingly. Their eyes widened.
"She's no niece of ours, we have not spoken to or seen our sister Andromeda since she married that mudblood, Ted Tonks, we have never met the girl... I assure you, my Lord," Bellatrix responded. Voldemort looked slightly amused.
"Tell me, Draco, are you going to babysit the cubs?" Voldemort asked with a curled lip. Draco froze over and his mouth was dry.
"No, my Lord," he whispered. Voldemort stared around the table for a quiet moment.
"As for Azalea... is there any insight to whether or not she is in the country?" Voldemort asked. "I have had immense trouble tapping into her mind," he admitted bitterly.
"Azalea, though miserable at occlumency, had managed to succeed at living in a portion of her brain that's essentially dead, though she cannot survive in it for long periods of time before falling unconscious. It used to be where the obscurial resided, once that was gone, it left space for her to hide, so to speak," Snape explained. Voldemort looked ever so slightly intrigued.
"In terms of where she might be, there are only two safe houses I'm aware exist that Dumbledore himself was not the Secret Keeper of. Arthur Weasley's home, though she would not hide at the most obvious and Kingsley Shacklebolt's home. I don't know the exact location of either. Azalea is the owner of Grimmauld Place, but everyone including myself in the order was passed Secret Keeper abilities when Dumbledore died. There are many enchantments on the place, but none I feel she would risk relying on to hide there."
"She could not have left the country, my Lord. The ministry has tabs on anyone seeking to flee, more hurdles to bypass to do so," Yaxley interjected. "We have placements in the department of transportation seeing to monitoring that closely, specifically for signs of Potter," he added. Voldemort nodded at this.
"Shacklebolt is protecting the muggle Prime Minister, I doubt she is there either, my Lord," Yaxley continued.
"I don't believe she is at a safehouse at the current moment. She is likely with an order member she has not previously traveled with, somewhere in the country. Her closest friends are all accounted for, and according to our source, no one was told where she went. However, there are plans for them to rendezvous and strategize. According to our source that will be on the 25th at nightfall. This is where the safehouses come in, I believe they will use an existing safehouse aforementioned. Our source believes Alastor Moody has set up a new network of safehouses with himself as Secret Keeper. He would be a good target before the order disperses into the safe havens indefinitely. Should those Fidelius charms die with him before then, they will be forced to congregate in larger, more easily targeted groups," Snape reasoned.
"Dawlish at the ministry has let slip no meetings are set to occur until next month," Yaxley interjected.
"The Order has believed for some time that we have infiltrated the ministry, more so after Albus Dumbledore's funeral. Dawlish was likely confunded to say as such to plant a false trail, they will be further into hiding if we wait until next month. The auror department no longer plays a role in the protection of Azalea Potter," Snape retorted evenly. Yaxley appeared affronted.
"Will the ministry have fallen before the 25th, Yaxley?" Voldemort asked, his red eyes fixed on the man intently.
"I hope so, my Lord. I have successfully imposed an imperious curse on the head of magical law enforcement, Pius Thickness," he responded with a twinge of pride.
"That's a start," Voldemort hissed as Yaxley was met with nods of approval from his counterparts around the table.
"If the ministry has not fallen, it will be impractical to attack once they have regrouped at one of the existing safehouses. Once they are there, I suspect they will be using unauthorized portkeys to travel between their network, I suggest waiting until Ministry control is seized before doing so," Snape interjected.
"They would have to use portkeys, really. The floo network is under close surveillance and will not allow a place under any other enchantments to attach to it. They cannot apparate between them, but that goes without saying," Yaxley interposed.
Voldemort nodded to himself in thought. "I think we should plan on patrolling Shacklebolt's area on the 25th," he said finally.
"That would have been my suggestion as well, my Lord. The Weasley family will likely be able to use a portkey to access the location since they already reside in a safehouse, but anyone else would need to be escorted in and forced to apparate outside of the barrier," Snape offered. "If Potter is with them, it would be best to seek her out then."
"We have been careless in the past, there are things about the girl I have not quite understood fully. What I do know is that I must be the one to kill her, and I'm not sure as of yet if that is wise. Your orders are clear to apprehend her and not kill. Severus, please tell us what you know about her," Voldemort explained.
Snape paused in thought. "Aside from her obvious physical characteristics, red hair, green eyes, lightning bolt scar, and our mark knifed into her left forearm, Azalea has some distinguishable capabilities and weaknesses. She's a legilimens. She's an animagus that takes the form of a Doe. Her patronus is a Stag. She carries an invisibility cloak. She's a parseltounge. Her reflexes and eyes are good, exceptional seeker and flyer. I observed her in dueling lessons and her most frequented spells are those to disarm and stun, she's good... She does not hesitate with unforgivable curses, though I don't think she has ever used one to kill... she has always been able to resist the imperius, the cruciatus doesn't have the same effect on her either... painful but not crippling," Snape explained. "She has a white snow owl," he added, pausing to think with a frown as though hid brain had momentarily gone absent. "She never mastered occlumency, she's too emotional, impulsive, and rash. Easily lured by rescuing someone otherwise in distress, she has a flawed complex about people dying for her... natural to see why... witnessed the murders of her parents, her godfather, Sirius Black, Cedric Diggory..." he said, and the deceased names sat in the air for a short moment. "Dementors have a severe effect on her. She's manipulative and vindictive, but... highly resourceful and suppose you could say noble in root. Righteous to a fault. I know of four individuals she has killed. Dumbledore suspected more as a child," he continued.
"Who might those be for anyone here who doesn't know?" Voldemort asked with piercing interest.
"She poisoned her uncle after he was interrogated and tortured. She also killed the man he married her to. Many here witnessed her kill Wormtail at the ministry. She killed Quirrell in self-defense. She killed a priest who abused her for years at the catholic school she attended, induced a heart attack. She also killed or had something to do with the deaths of up to at least six classmates when she was between the ages of nine and eleven, all before she knew she was a witch," Snape explained. Voldemort raised his eyebrows with unvocalized curiosity.
Voldemort nodded slowly and there was a very pregnant pause of silence.
"Plans will be made to capture her during this window of opportunity on the 25th. I think dementors should assist. Erect barriers in the mile radius around Shacklebolt's estimated residence, apparition in but not out, sights set on capturing, but not killing the girl, and eliminating Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, along with any other Order members possible... Bellatrix will have the opportunity to prune her family tree of abominations like her niece I suspect" Voldemort instructed. "Should Azalea cast a patronus or use her animagus form, we will know," he added.
"I do have a request," he said as an afterthought, but the room went grim. "Azalea's wand and my own possess the same core, the tail feather of the same pheonix. I was unable to kill her in the graveyard due to this connection and I don't think it wise to attempt another curse. We can maim but not fatally harm one another," he said. "That being said, I will require another's wand if I'm to decide and succeed in killing her," he continued. Nobody looked up.
"Surely, someone would want the honor," he hissed. His red eyes were fixed on Lucius and prison tattoo on his emaciated looking neck.
"Lucius, I don't see why you need a wand," Voldemort said evenly. Lucius looked up with wide eyes as Voldemort glided over to him with his hand outstretched. Lucius handed him the want timidly and Voldemort examined it close.
"Yew... and the core?" Voldemort asked.
"Dragon heartstring..." Lucius said with a dry voice. Voldemort nodded and returned to his position at the table.
"Now, we have another matter of business. Once the ministry has fallen, Severus need not require the board of governors to approve his status as head of Hogwarts. All school-aged children are required to enroll and attend. Mudblood students will be apprehended on the train. We will need a Dark Arts professor. Amicus, plan to assume the post," Voldemort explained. Amicus nodded and exchanged an intent look with Snape.
"As for muggle studies, we are joined tonight by Professor Charity Burbage. She's been in our custody since the raid of the school and will not be reassuming her post as the muggle studies professor as her beliefs are reprehensible," Voldemort continued, using his wand to pull her suspended body toward the center of the table.
"It is Charity's belief that muggles are not so different from us and encourages the mixture of Magical and non-magical blood," he added. The death eaters in company made several noises to indicate their displeasure with the sentiment. Charity looked desperately at Snape.
"Severus, please. Please help me. We're friends... please..." she pled pitifully. Snape stared stone-faced as Voldemort examined his reaction. With a blinding flash of green light, her body hit the table hard with a thud that shocked most of the company back further into their chairs. Draco stared with terror etched across his face. His hands shook.
"That, I think is what we can look forward to when Azalea joins us very soon," Voldemort said. Nagini slithered up under her hand and onto the table. He spoke to her in parseltongue and she moved forward menacingly to devour the body.