:::: Chapter 24 ::::

Riddle House

"He killed our son! How—what---who could do such a thing?" Tears welled in her eyes as she said this. Bella couldn't explain the mixed feelings she was experiencing inside. She was very depressed by her only son's death, angered by the nonchalant attitude of the man who had killed him and yet deep down, she felt like she could forgive him.

It was this that was tearing her up. She was torn between being a good mother and a good servant to the only man she ever believed in. She loved Faustus deeply but her love for Voldemort has always overridden any other emotions she has ever felt for anyone else.

"Bella, get a hold of yourself. How do you know? How do you even know that he killed Faustus? Why would he do that anyway?" Rodolphus Lestrange sat next to her with his eyebrows knitted together trying to make sense of what Bella had just told him.

"I don't know…..I don't know why he wants Faustus dead but I know he did it. There was no one else in that room except for him and Faustus. There was no one else there! If someone had been there do you think the he wouldn't have noticed? That's why he made me leave the room to look for his brandy which I have no doubt he moved elsewhere so I couldn't find it. That would give him ample time to do whatever he pleased with Faustus."

Rod glanced sideways at Bella whose face is buried in her hands.

"Did he tell you where he went?" Rod asked her.

"No. He just said he needed to do something important…..said something about redeeming his pride? But I don't know where he went." Bella said in a muffled voice.

"Listen, since he's gone, maybe we could sneak around his den to look for clues about Faustus' death?" Rod said as he moved closer to Bella.

"What?' Bella said with a look of surprise on her face. 'Are you sure you want to sneak around his den?"

"Look Bella, if what you said about him causing Faustus' death is right, then he must have done for something. Our Lord wouldn't do something like that for nothing. There must have been something that he could gain from killing Faustus."

"Oh Rod, you don't think he is stupid enough to leave any clues about something as important as this lying around his den do you? He must have hidden it away someplace. We can't possibly gain anything from snooping around there." Bella said dismissively.

"Bella, do you want to find out why he killed Faustus or not? That is the best place we could start looking for clues. Or do you have other ideas that could help us?"

"No…..no, I don't. But Rodolphus, it doesn't feel right. We are doubting the Lord. Even if he had killed his own son…….' Bella paused for a while as she got up off the chair.

Our son…..he killed our son…why? Why must he do a thing like that? How could he do a thing like that?

'He must have a solid reason for it." Bella finished as she gulped down the lump that had formed in her throat. Even as she said these words, she could hardly believe them herself.

"Bella,' Rod said as he came up behind her. 'We should at least try to find out something. Only then could we truly respect the Dark Lord again."

"Are you inferring that my loyalty for him is wavering?" Bella whipped around and glared at Rodolphus who brought up his hands trying to calm Bella down and to protect himself for any possible attacks.

"Relax….won't you please relax? I did not say that. I'm merely saying that if we don't try to find out something we could go on forever doubting the Lord's purposes. We wouldn't be very good servants to him would we?" Rodolphus said in a half-hurried tone and he was glad that as he said this, he noticed Bella's face had softened.

"You're right. You're right! If we're ever going to find out anything, we have to do it now. He could be coming back any minute now."

Office of the Muggle Prime Minister

"Tom….Tom….you promised me this position….you promised me this position……you said you wouldn't come back to me for anything else after the deal is done! I gave you my soul for it! I saved your god damned life, you ingrate!" Sebastian roared at his half-brother. His voice started to crack and he felt a sudden urge to cough. It has been happening a lot lately. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with Sebastian and yet he has been feeling very lethargic of late. It was as though he had suddenly aged to over 100 years overnight. His throat felt so dry as if he had not had a drink for a week.

"Life definitely hasn't taught you much has it?' Voldemort said as he approached Sebastian slowly, playing with his wand with his fingers. 'Who ever taught you about honesty wasn't very honest with you Sebastian." A swift movement of his wand, and Sebastian' heavy oak table exploded into a cloud of saw dust. Now, nothing stood between the two remaining survivors of the Marvolo family.

"I honored my side of the deal which is more than I can say for you! You said if I gave you half my soul it wouldn't affect me a bit. But now, look at me! I'm a fucking half-wit! I should be the one who's pissed not you!" Sebastian said with such vigor in his voice although inside, he was terrified.

"Come now Sebastian. Whoever said I was angry with you? I'm not angry…..not one bit. In fact, I came over to share a piece of good news with you. It has filled with euphoria for these past few days,' Voldemort came up close to Sebastian and conjured himself a chair which he settled in comfortably, taking his time, looking into Sebastian's fearful eyes enjoying his pain. 'I found another soul which was worthy of my body. Isn't that wonderful news?" Voldemort said with a very rare grin plastered on his face.

"So….so you can give my soul back to me?' Sebastian said eagerly as he grabbed the arms of his chair, trying to sit up straight. 'Please Tom….I need my soul back. I'm dying here. Living with half a soul is taking a toll on me. Please Tom…..I need my soul back,' Sebastian fell on to his knees in front of Voldemort as he begged. 'Besides, you said it yourself. You no longer need my soul, which means I could have my soul back right?"

Voldemort kicked him away as his smile disappeared from his face. "Don't you dare touch me,' He said in his usual soft but dangerous tone. He leaned back into his chair as he looked on at Sebastian's pain-etched face, grabbing his knee where Voldemort had kicked him.

'You know Sebastian, for the first time let me be honest with you. I came over here for one purpose: I wanted to kill you. But now seeing you….so weak and feeble and disgusting being the muggle that you are, I think it's better for me to just let you live the rest of your miserable life in this state. It would be a lot more fun." Voldemort chuckled as he got up to leave.

"Wait….you can't leave me like this! You can't just leave! Why must you keep my soul? You don't even need it anymore!" Sebastian yelled after Voldemort.

"Oh…did I forget to mention? I can't give you back your soul. It was destroyed when I replaced your soul with the other more worthy one. That's why your condition worsened only recently. Well…..there's nothing I can do about it. You take care." Voldemort said sarcastically.

"Wait…wait…..I don't believe you! You can do something! You can do something!"

And as he apparated, he chuckled at the pathetic look on his half brother's face.

Things are definitely going better than I expected.

Riddle House- The Den

"I told you he wouldn't leave anything as important as that lying around. He must have burnt it. It's definitely not here." Bella said for the third time.

"No. It's here alright. It must be in there." Rodolphus said as he pointed to the quaint looking safe sitting quietly at the far corner of the room right next to the bookshelf. Bella looked at the direction her was pointing and sighed.

"Oh we'll never be able to look in there. I've seen him open that. You have to be able to speak Parseltongue."

"Well, do you remember how he said it?" Rod asked her.

"Well of course not. Everything sounds the same in Parseltongue; they all sound like hissing to me." Bella said as she folded her arms.

"Well because that's what it is; hissing. Let me try." Rodolphus started towards the safe.

"Oh Rod, don't be ridiculous."

"Shhh….' Rodlphus knelt down in front of the safe and started hissing. 'SSSssss…..ssss" he started to hiss at the serpents coiled up in front of the safe.

"Oh shut up Rod. You're just being stupid." Bella said and she couldn't help but smile at Rod's silliness. It wasn't very long before that smile was rudely rubbed off her face.

A loud crack sounded at the entrance of the den. Voldemort had returned.

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