Who Is the Rightful Heir?

Chapter 3

Searching?

Voldemort's POV

Meredith had been improving greatly with the book. At first I thought she was struggling with only three spells and not even a full potion, but then I realized she had been reading and memorizing it. Now, only a week since she started, half of the book was already read and memorized. It had taken Salazar almost a full month to finished reading half of the book, let alone memorize it. Meredith was quite talented.

"You've done well, Meredith." I told the girl that was sitting next to me in her throne.

"Thank-you, sir. I've been taught by the best."

"Ah yes, but Parseltounge cannot be taught, only known. And you, my girl, have the ability."

Meredith beamed.

Salazar's POV

Four weeks had past since I had left the castle. There had been no sign of anyone looking for me. My name wasn't listed on the wanted list. It was as if I had never existed. I wasn't blaming anyone. At first I hadn't existed, Harry Potter did.

Lately I'd been having second thoughts. Not about going back. I would never go back until Meredith Grakshaw was removed from the earth. I was having second thoughts about living again. Was it even worth it to be living alone and hidden, only to come out when absolutely necessary? Here I had two cabinets of hard liquor and another one of the wizarding world's alcohol. Almost once a week I had to restock them all. They weren't small cabinets either. Last night I had cut myself from a bottle I had dropped. Watching and feeling the blood flow out of me relaxed me. I found my old dagger and started the habit up again. Twenty slashes covered my arms from just last night. Who knows how long I would keep the action up. Probably never, my father wasn't here any longer; no one was there to care.

I finished off another bottle of firewhiskey. It was seven in the morning. Eight empty bottles stood on the table next to me. I had cleaned up the room last night after getting sick of it being so cluttered. Maybe I cared, but it wasn't much.

Voldemort's POV

"We've found another rebel community near the Weasley home. It seems like the two eldest have made alliances with the old students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. I believe one of them has married that girl from Salazar's fourth year. She competed in the Triwizard tournament," Nott told me. I was sitting in front of my Inner Death Eaters. Each one of them had come up to me and told me of some pathetic group of rebels training to overtake me. Some of them were from the Light side. Others were from the Dark side, but wanted them to be the rulers. None of the groups had the power. They wouldn't be training so hard if they did.

"Her name is Fleur. Kidnap the girl's sister. She looks just like her but smaller in size. Both would die without the other. That should mess up the group's plans for the while."

Nott bowed and backed up to the rest of the circle. I dismissed them, but made Draco stay behind. We had matters to discuss.

"Draco, tell my son I need to see him in my office in ten minutes." I stood up and started to leave when Draco spoke.

"Your son, sir?"

I spun around and glared. "Is that not what I said, Draco, Salazar Slytherin Voldemort Riddle, otherwise known as my son?"

"Well, um..."

"Is there a problem, young Malfoy?" I walked closer to the blond boy.

"You see, my lord, I have no idea of where he actually is."

I shoved my wand into his neck. Draco froze with fear. "What do you mean you have no idea?" I hissed.

"Salazar...Salazar...left..." Draco stuttered out. My wand slipped out of my hand and dropped to the floor with a clatter that echoed throughout the whole room. I backed up to my throne and collapsed in it, looking at my son's friend.

"How long?" I asked as I looked at my son's old throne that Meredith had taken over. Salazar's cologne-like smell had been replaced with Meredith's lilac.

"I checked in on him three weeks ago, sir, but you could tell he had left long before."

I raced out of the room and pulled Draco with me. My wand was forgotten on the marble floor. Slowly, I opened the door to Salazar's chambers.

"No." I whispered. Everything had been trashed. His bed was worthless, glass, wood chips, and books were everywhere, two large stains were in the wood floor, one was from a rotting potion and another from dried up alcohol. Near the fireplace were two cracked chess boards and broken playing pieces surrounding them.

"Sir?" Draco asked me.

"Did you touch anything?" I asked him softly.

Draco shook his head slowly.

I stepped into the room, trying to find something that smelled like my son, but the scent of the rotting potion mixed with alcohol had covered everything. Salazar had disappeared completely. I punched the wall, leaving a small hole in the wall and a lot of pain in my hand, but I didn't notice either. Salazar had runaway and he most likely was never coming back.

Salazar's POV

Pain swept up my hand and into my arm as I was taking a long nap. My eyes snapped open and I moaned as the burning and prickling sensation traveled all the way up my neck and into my head. An immense headache formed, making me unable to think straight. Curling myself into a ball, I stayed there, waiting for the pain to finish, but it never did. Instead it spread even farther throughout my body, making me shake and whimper, unable to do anything about it.

Voldemort's POV

"Draco, how is the search party doing?" I asked Draco in my office three days after I saw Salazar's room.

"We haven't been able to find any lead. It's almost as if Salazar's just vanished out of thin air and left nothing behind."

"It's only been three days. You haven't covered that much ground yet, correct?"

"So far, all of your Outer Death Eaters have searched all of the Americas and Australia and are a third of the way done with Asia. Your Inner Death Eaters have searched all over the nearby areas with no luck. They'll be going farther south tomorrow."

I started pacing behind my desk. The boy had to be somewhere. He could hide well, but I was going to find him, there was no doubt about it. I had taught the boy. I knew his tricks. He couldn't fool me forever.

"My lord! I have finished the potion you asked me to make." Meredith barged in with four bottles of a bright blue liquid. I smiled at the girl. When she came in, she always brought my spirits up. I had Draco leave as she sat down in front of me.

"Very good, Meredith. Have you tried one yet?" I asked her as I sat down, slowly calming down a bit.

"I gave one to one of the worthless house elves that was walking through the hall and it fell asleep instantly. It should be still sleeping if you'd like to go see it."

"No, no." I waved my hand dismissively. Her expression changed to one of disappointment.

"Are you worrying about Salazar again?" Meredith asked. "Don't worry about the boy right now. You have Death Eaters looking for him like people look for a mass murderer. Instead, you should be worrying about the rebels and taking over the muggle's world. They are much more important matters that have never betrayed you before."

I sighed. Meredith was partially right. I needed some time off of thinking about my son. If I kept worrying, the rebels would take me over, even the weakest ones. I couldn't let anything like that happen. Quickly I took out a piece of parchment and scribbled a letter on it then I handed it to Meredith. Send this to Nott. It tells him that he should stop the Inner Death Eater search and come back here immediately. I need them for when we will take the rebels down.

Meredith took the parchment gladly and almost skipped out of my office. I smiled as she closed the door. It was good to have a girl like Meredith around. She always kept me in focus on the important parts of my life. Salazar was being looked for by the Outer Death Eaters, there were enough of them that my Inner Circle didn't need to be helping.

Draco's POV

"Meredith, wait up!" I called out to the girl that was walking out of Master's office, happily.

She slowed down then turned to look at me. "What do you want, Malfoy?" She spat harshly.

"I just wanted to know how the search for Salazar is going. Have you found anything of any importance?"

Meredith raised an eyebrow. "What search?"

"The one the Outer Death Eaters are doing." I told her.

The girl laughed. "My Death Eaters looked for him for an hour or two the first day then went and dealt with the rebels."

"But, what about going through the Americas, and Australia?"

"All are clean of rebels who've either switched sides or have been dealt with properly."

With that, she turned and walked away. I stood there shocked. With what I overheard by staying near Master's office, no one was looking for Salazar anymore.

A/N: Hey look, I updated sooner than last time! Cheers for me! Yeah…. I bet you're all happy now… hopefully.

Kamorie: I agree with you that Voldemort is being a loser. And Meredith is a female dog. But Voldemort doesn't really see the whole picture yet. Meredith is keeping it from him as is Salazar, but Salazar doesn't really know it. Meredith is doing it on purpose. So, in a way, Voldemort has really no control over what he's doing because of his personality and what everyone else is doing to him. But, it's still your opinion.

power214063: At this moment she can speak Parseltounge, but can she truly speak the language… you'll never know until I write more…