I know, I know, it's already late in the day - at least, with me, it is - but I've been busy. Studying constitutional law all day. On a Saturday. What is my life?
Anyway, thank you for the amazing response to last week's chapter and I'd like to encourage you to keep it up, cause reviews make me very, very happy :)

"I don't want to see you," I sang as I passed Tom, who had just apparated into my kitchen.

"Are we doing this again, yes?"

"What?"

"Fighting."

I turned to him, the pot I had wanted to put away still in my hands. "We aren't fighting. There's nothing to fight about, the situation is clear. I am waiting for you to properly apologize."

"Listen, I didn't know-"

I huffed, annoyed and forcefully put the pot down on the table next to me. "You didn't know? Don't you remember the ring, it-"

"You were fine once you took it off!" he snapped. "How was I to know you'd be bothered by that thing in the floor-?"

"That makes it all right?" I inquired. "You still hid it in my house without telling me! I'm just... I'm not even angry, I'm just... disappointed. Resigned. I should've known better than to trust you."

"You can trust me," he said, almost indignant.

I gave a humourless laugh and picked the pot up again.

"Come on Lorraine," he said, grabbing the pot out of my hands and finally putting it into the cupboard. "We always trusted each other."

"Really?" I said. "Apparently, you didn't trust me enough to tell me you had a Horcrux stored in my house."

His eyes narrowed before he abruptly said, "Fine. Let me prove it. Ask away, I'll answer."

"Are you serious?" I asked. "This is not like you."

"You want proof that you can trust me. I'll tell you the truth just like you do all the time."

I sincerely hoped that my expression didn't slip at the sudden guilt ripping through me. I was being a hypocrite, I realized, demanding his honesty and trust when I, myself, betrayed him already.

I swallowed hard and nodded. "All right, then. Tell me where they are."

He frowned lightly but I just raised an eyebrow, knowing he had already realized what I was talking about.

"I gave the cup to the Lestranges," he said grudgingly. "To store it in their vault as I had originally planned."

"Good. What about the ring?"

"You know that," he said swiftly. "In Little Hangleton, right where you hid it."

I motioned for him to go on.

"The Locket is in a cave I used to visit with the orphanage. Ravenclaw's diadem is at Hogwarts. And the diary is destroyed."

I nodded slowly, counting in my head. "One's missing."

"What do you mean?"

"I count five. Adding you, that's only six. You wanted seven."

"I never got to-"

"There's no point to this when you lie," I reminded him gently.

He pulled a face. "Fine, then. It's Nagini."

My eyes widened. "What?"

"The snake, she's the Horcrux."

I stared at him for a moment before I regained control of my facial muscles. "Of course. You turned into that horrible snake and..."

"It doesn't make sense, doesn't it?" he said.

I frowned. "Amazing," I breathed resignedly. I had always hated that damn snake and Tom's affection for the animal had been so uncharacteristic. Now it all fell into place.

"Actually," he said. "I'm here to tell you something else."

"I'm not sure I want to know," I told him.

"I'll be gone for a few days," he said. "I'm going to get myself a new wand."

"You've got Ollivander locked in the cellar," I reminded him. "You don't need to leave for that."

He smiled, the way he always did when he had some diabolical plan. "Ollivander can't get me what I want."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What are you planning?"

"I'm going to get the most powerful wand that ever was. Potter won't be able to defeat me."

I bit my lip. "Well then. I wish you good luck."

I made to pass him, but he grabbed my arm and stopped me. "Oh, and Lorraine, if I weren't the Dark Lord, maybe I'd even be sorry."

"Merlin, Runcorn, I just reminded you a week ago!" I snapped.

"You didn't," the man grumbled.

"I did!" I exclaimed. "We met in the lift-"

He groaned. "Bloody Potter. All week, I had to tell people it really wasn't me-"

I sighed and raised a hand to run through my hair. "Bloody Potter, indeed. Still, I need that report," I said forcefully as his features relaxed.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"You're excused."

His lip curled, but he grabbed his hat from where he had put it on my desk and made for the door. As he reached it, the door opened and Runcorn stopped, sneering at who entered. "Shacklebolt."

"Runcorn."

Runcorn turned to me. "You never mentioned the Auror office owed a report as well."

"Perhaps because it has nothing to do with the report you owe me. Goodbye, Albert," I said.

Runcorn gritted his teeth but he left without another word. Kingsley Shacklebolt closed the door behind him and his polite facade dropped. "Is that what you do to cover this up?" he inquired. "Tell everyone you're gathering reports?"

"Maybe I do just that," I challenged. "Or maybe the truth is that I'm spying on you rather than the other way round. Maybe I'm just waiting for the right moment to blow all your cover."

He glared and took the chair Runcorn had occupied before. "Arthur Weasley tells me you are to be trusted."

"I have no idea how he would get that impression," I smiled.

"So far you've supplied very useful information," Shacklebolt said. "We wondered if maybe you'd be willing to give away a little more."

I sighed. Day to day, they got more greedy. "I fear that's not an option."

"We'd need information on where he is, who's around him, what's his next plan, where is he going to travel, what-"

"Enough," I interrupted him, straightened up a little. "I won't tell you any of that."

"Please," he insisted. "You're obviously willing to help, but it's not much use if we allow him to continue-"

"I said enough," I snapped, jumping to my feet.

Shacklebolt fell silent and watched me calmly as I took a very deep breath. "I can't do more," I said. "Helping you survive, that's one thing. Trying to take him down? I would never. I know exactly where my loyalties lie. And they're not with you."

Shacklebolt cocked his head to the side, but nodded carefully. "I see. Well, that's disappointing."

I huffed. "Just get back to your work."

He got up, not at all crestfallen as Runcorn had been. Instead he confidently met my eyes. "I assure you I will do just that."

"Tom!" I cried, rushing forward to meet him.

He stopped abruptly, just a few steps into my hallway as I practically fell into his arms. "What-?"

"Listen," I said, drawing back a little. "I'm sorry that we fought and I felt so for not properly making up-"

Truth be told, I still thought he had been wrong and I still thought he should have apologized. But one thing had become clear to me when dealing with Shacklebolt. I had not lied. I knew whom I owed my loyalty.

"Er, all right," he said slowly. "That's, uh, that's good."

I smiled weakly up at him. "I hoped for a bit more appreciation."

"No, no, I do appreciate it," he said as he followed me into the living room. "It's just I didn't have the best of days."

"What happened?"

"I did not get what I set out to get."

"The wand?" I inquired curiously. "I had the impression you knew where to find it."

"So I thought," he sneered. "Unfortunately, someone stole it. Decades ago, apparently."

"Then you have to resort to something else."

"I can't," he said forcefully, red eyes blazing. "It's the most powerful wand in history. I want it."

Taken aback, I asked, "The most powerful wand in history? Which would that be?"

Tom huffed. "Ollivander called it the Elder Wand, it's just-"

"The Elder Wand?" I repeated, trying to conceal my amusement. "Tom, it's just a myth."

"What are you saying?" he asked, dangerously low.

"Don't you- but of course you don't. I only know because my grandmother, she used to – it's a legend, from a children's story. A fairy tale."

His eyes narrowed at me. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

I sighed heavily, settling down on the armrest of the nearest chair. "It's called the Tale of the Three Brothers," I said, continuing as he motioned for me to do so.
"Three brothers walked at night when they came across a wild river. Now, normal people used to drown there, but these three were wizards. So they conjured a bridge to cross. When they did, Death stepped in their way, angry at the way they had tricked him. But Death had made up a plan. He offered each a present to pick themselves. So, the eldest brother demanded a very powerful wand and Death made it out of a nearby elder tree. Trouble was, the man went to the next town and killed an enemy of his, boasting about the great wand he now owned that could never be defeated. That very night, someone crept into his chamber and murdered him in his sleep."

Tom frowned at me as though he did not quite grasp what I wanted to tell him with this story.

"It's just a tale, it doesn't really exist."

"Ollivander told me-"

"Ollivander is an old man. He could be wrong," I reminded him gently.

"He wouldn't lie to Lord Voldemort," Tom hissed.

I sighed, shrugging. "Believe whatever you want. It's good to believe in fairy tales. Healthy part of our childhood."

His lip curled in anger, but he did not lash out; maybe, he, too, wanted to keep the peace for as long as we could.

"I'll get us a tea, yes?" I suggested, standing up again.

"Wait, Lorraine," he said and I froze right where I was. "What happened to other two?"

I gave a short laugh at his curiosity. It was times like this that I wondered what would have become of him had he grown up in a real home, with a real family, with a mother that told him fairy tales.

"Well the second demanded the power to bring back the dead and so Death gave him a stone, with which the brother brought back his dead fiancée. But she was very unhappy for she didn't belong in this world and eventually, he took his own life to be united with her in death.
The third brother, though, wished for something to hide and Death gave him his Invisibility Cloak. And Death kept looking for the youngest brother for years and years, but he could never find him. Only when the man had grown very old, he gave the cloak to his son and went with Death willingly as he found him."

"What a fool," Tom sneered.

"Why?"

"He could have kept the cloak and lived forever," Tom said with disgust. "Why would he die if he could have lived?"

I smiled. "Sometimes I think for such a clever person you can be incredibly dumb."

His eyes shot up to mine but I turned and left for the kitchen, leaving him to ponder on my words.