Mentions of torture in this chapter.

CHAPTER 6

Albus Dumbledore did his best not to show it in public, but alone in the privacy of his office, the aged headmaster had no problems admitting he was worried.

He had hoped that after Tom was revealed at the Ministry, the fight against him would be easier. He had hoped that, after revealing the prophecy to Ivy, she would understand his actions, even if she disapproved of them.

Sadly, things had not gone as Albus had hoped.

The Ministry, despite acknowledging that Voldemort had indeed returned, was remaining as ineffectual as ever. About the only real steps the Ministry had taken was to increase Auror patrols in Diagon Alley, and call for a vote of no-confidence in Cornelius Fudge.

The problem was that Voldemort was now able to move in the open, and he had moved decisively.

Not only had he personally led the attack on Amelia Bones, murdering the former DMLE Director and favored candidate for the vacated Minister of Magic position, but his Death Eaters had made multiple attacks in the muggle world. Considering his goal of taking over magical Britain, those attacks may seem odd, but they actually served three purposes. They kept his followers, who in general either despised muggles or just loved causing death and destruction, happy. They were an opportunity to train his new recruits. And lastly, they kept the Ministry busy, both covering up the existence of magic from the muggle world, and protecting key locations that Death Eaters may attack.

And that was on top of whatever Ministry employees were sympathetic to the Death Eaters, if not members themselves.

As for Ivy Potter, her initial anger had been understandable. She had just been informed of Sirius' death, as well as the prophecy dooming her to fight Tom. But, despite his initial belief that she would calm down and her anger would abate after some time, she wanted nothing more to do with him or the Order of the Phoenix When she had inherited Number 12 Grimmauld Place, she had kicked out the entire Order. He'd tried talking to her, convincing her that her decision was a wrong wrong, but she continually rebuffed him, however politely.

But it was her birthday that things took a truly bad turn.

Severus had not informed him of the planned attack on the Lovegoods, and afterward the potion master had maintained he'd had no prior knowledge of the attack. Regardless, Tom had chosen his target well.

Oh, there was some backlash to his cause, the nature of Luna Lovegood's, a young pureblood girl, death was horrific. But that backlash was surprisingly minimal, probably due to the fact that her relationship with Miss Potter was not exactly secret, and the fact that the Lovegoods not only spoke out against Voldemort, but were classed as blood traitors for that opposition.

But the truly devastating part of the attack, was Ivy's reaction.

At least before the attack, Ivy had been willing to communicate with him, and had been willing to leave the ancestral Black home (the Order may have been kicked out, but due to the importance of Miss Potter, Dumbledore had ensured that the members maintained an eye on the home, and Ivy). But Ivy had not left the house since the day before the attack, and had stopped responding to any letters.

If it wasn't for the letter she sent withdrawing from Hogwarts, and the reports of William Weasley, an employee of Gringotts, who had at least managed to confirm there was account activity with the Black Vaults, which had been left to Ivy and Ivy alone, he'd be worried the girl had gone catatonic.

But considering her isolation, Albus was more worried about what she was doing.

The wards on the home prevented Alastor from seeing into the house with his eye. And considering the books in the Black Family library, books he'd been unsuccessful in convincing Sirius to get rid of, he truly feared for the path Ivy was going to walk down.

There was no telling what this one act would mean for the future of their world.

He'd even put off his hunt for Tom's horcrux's as he attempted to figure out how to resolve the situation with Ivy Potter. The Prophecy was clear, to him at least, that the girl was needed to defeat Voldemort.

The alert ward for the entrance to his office triggered, telling him that Minerva was coming up the steps to the office. Albus quickly composed himself. A few moments later, when the expected knock came at the door, he called, "Come in Minerva."

His deputy headmistress opened the door, and before he could ask what had brought her to his office, she said, "Azkaban's been attacked."

Albus sighed, closing his eyes. "I suppose it was too much to ask that Voldemort leave those captured at the Ministry incarcerated."

Minerva's next words however, shocked Albus to the core.

"It wasn't Voldemort."

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"What happened?" Voldemort asked, his voice low...and dangerous.

Yaxley could hear the barely contained fury within his lord's voice. A clerk in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Yaxley was one of his master's most well connected spies in the Ministry. Not only was he usually able to tip his master off about what action the department was taking against him, his seniority meant he had access to much of the sensitive information in the Ministry.

Sadly, it had fallen to him to inform The Dark Lord of an attack on Azkaban, which had ended in the death's of the eleven Death Eaters captured by the Ministry.

The Dark Lord had decided to leave them locked up in the prison until the new Hogwarts year. He'd done this, both as a way to punish them for their failure, and because he figured a mass escape from Azkaban when their children were away from home would frighten the population of magical Britain more. But it seemed that now that plan had backfired.

Bowing before his master, Yaxley began to explain, "It's not known for sure what happened. Eyewitness reports from the guards are sketchy at best. What is confirmed is that, somehow, a figure wearing a green cloak gained access to the prison. After incapacitating the guards, and with the defection of the dementors to your side, this allowed the figure unrestricted access to the prison. This figure then proceeded to the cells your followers were located in. Each was found with their throat cut open...except for Lucius."

Yaxley gulped, before continuing. "Lucius was tortured. Preliminary analysis of his body revealed that most of his injuries were pre-mortem, but that magic was used to ensure he could talk. Veritaserum was also found in his bloodstream. The DMLE believes that whomever attacked the prison tortured him for information, then afterward used veritaserum to confirm the information he gave under torture was accurate before they finally killed him."

If the Dark Lord was displeased with this information, he didn't show it. Considering the information Lucius potentially knew about, that was worrisome for Yaxley.

"Is that all?"

"No my Lord. Before leaving the prison, the figure returned to the guards. It was at that point that the guards got their first good look at the figure. They reported the underneath the cloak, this figure was covered entirely in armor, wearing a helm that covered their face. The figure then killed our man on the Azkaban guard. Their are conflicting reports, as some guards claim the figure did not speak at all, but our man was pleading for mercy, and asked who the figure was. Before slashing a knife across the man's throat, the figure apparently answered." Yaxley took a deep breath, and continued. "He, and all those guards who claimed to hear the figure speak claim they spoke with a masculine voice, said, 'I am your doom."

Concluding his report, the Death Eater remained in his bowed position, awaiting his master's reaction.

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Voldemort silently contemplated the news Yaxley had relaid to him.

This was a setback, certainly, and an unexpected one. But he wasn't truly worried. What could one man, assuming the figure was man and not a cleverly disguised woman using magic to disguise her voice as well (and considering his own experience with wizard-kind he discounted that idea as quickly as it had come. With the exception of himself he did not think any wizard was that cunning), do to him. He had his horcruxes and was thus immortal.

Even the information Lucius may have disclosed, and to be fair the man did know quite a bit, could not truly jeopardize him. Sure, if the information got into the wrong hands, it could be devastating to his short term plans, even to his followers. But in the long run, this new variable would at most be an inconvenience to him.

"What was the reaction to this attack in the Ministry?" he finally asked.

"The attack is not yet well known. Those that do know are worried that this man is an agent of yours, punishing the inmates for their failure. They believe the torture done to Lucius is due to the fact that he was the leader of the group in the Department of Mysteries," Yaxley informed him.

"Then we shall let them believe that for now," he told the man. "In the meantime, you are to keep yourself appraised of the situation. No doubt the Ministry will attempt to discover this mysterious attackers identity. We will let them do the preliminary work for us for now. If we are lucky, they will take care of the problem of capturing this man for us. But I expect you to keep me updated on their progress, understood?"

"Yes my lord."

"You are dismissed."

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Dobby was worried for his mistress, the house-elf knew Winky was as well.

Since the death of Mistress Ivy's Luna, Mistress Ivy was single minded. She devoted herself into making the suit of armor she had worn earlier, applying multiple magic to it to protect her and hide her identity. He knew she also planned to make it so that the armor would make her stronger and faster.

He had accompanied her on her attack on Azkaban, what he knew to be her first attack in her quest for revenge. He had watched as she questioned and tortured his former master without flinching or hesitating. He had watched as she slit the throat of every Death Eater in the prison, as well as the guard revealed to be one of them in her interrogation of Dobby's former master.

Even now, Mistress Ivy showed no reaction to what she had done, or what she was going to do.

In fact, aside from occasional orders, and thanking the two elves after they complied with those orders, Mistress Ivy did not speak at all, And even when she did, her voice was empty...as though she did not feel anything anymore.

Even more worrying to the elf, was that her eyes matched her voice.

There was no life in those green orbs anymore. No anger, no sadness, no joy, nothing.

Were it not for his bond to Mistress Ivy, Dobby would be worried that Mistress Ivy was merely an animated corpse.

And to his great shame, he had no idea what he could do to help her.

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Winky gently covered Mistress Ivy, after placing her in bed.

This was not unusual for the female house-elf to do. Ever since Mistress Ivy's Luna had died, Mistress Ivy often drove herself to the point of exhaustion.

She'd seen her former Master Barty do something similar after his wife died. The difference between the two however was that Master Barty's wife died of illness, and he had Master Barty Junior to worry about.

Mistress Potter's Luna was taken from her, and all Mistress Ivy had anymore was the pain of that loss.

Winky may not have been Mistress Ivy's elf as long as she had been Master Barty's, but she knew that Mistress Ivy loved deeply, and she had Loved her Luna more than anyone.

She knew from experience there was nothing she could do to help Mistress Ivy's pain, all she could do was take care of her until Mistress Ivy came out of her grief.

And Winky was determined not to fail the woman that had given her a family again. It was one reason she had, after finding Mistress Ivy passed out after raiding the houses liquor cabinet, removed all alcohol, even butterbeer from the home.

Satisfied that Mistress Ivy would be okay for the night, Winky quietly exited the room, taking the armor Mistress Ivy had enchanted with her.

The armor was nothing special at first glance, just a suit of armor plate that Mistress Ivy had enchanted, but those enchantments made the armor a significant force to be reckoned with. Most importantly, it protected Mistress Ivy.

For that reason, Winky would take great care of it.

She would never forgive herself if the armor failed, and she lost Mistress Ivy.

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So this chapter was hard for me to write, this was actually my second version as I completely hated my first version once it was done.

Now, in case it wasn't clear, the armor Ivy has now, IS NOT, Doom's armor. It's simply an enchanted set of regular plate armor. It is, however, the precursor to/inspiration for that armor. She does not have the iconic helmet, only a regular full-face helm.

As for why Ivy only interrogated Lucius and not the other Death Eaters, that has to do with both her inexperience, and her personal hatred of the Malfoy's. She might be more intelligent than others, but she doesn't have the experience yet to avoid mistakes. And on top of that, she's still not exactly in her might after Luna's death.