Chapter 8

Bone white fingers twiddled with the crystal wineglass, the red liquid swirling inside in a vortex of bitter sweetness. The owner of the fingers was quite a terrifying sight for any onlooker. His white completion contrasted violently with his royal black robes, making him look like the grim reaper himself. His predator-like red eyes regarded the four kneeling men before him, his face set in a cold mask that betrayed nothing but the lightest sneers.

"So this is the legendary team that killed the terrifying Boy-Who-Lived. Silver Death, isn't it?" Voldemort asked them almost mockingly, pronouncing their group's name in a long drawl.

One of the hooded men stood up, clearly the leader of the group as he stepped forward, uncovering his face from his hood. It was a young male, most likely in his late twenties, his black hair was cut short and green eyes remained neutral, unaffected by the Dark Lord's mocking.

"Yes, My Lord, Silver Death is the group that followed Harry Potter and his partners and killed all of them."

The Dark Lord looked angry for a moment, but calmed himself down a few seconds later, leaning forward and lacing his thin fingers together. A slow quiet hiss escaped his colourless lips. A huge snake crawled out of the darkness that was surrounding most of the room. The serpent slowly made its way between the four figures, coming dangerously close to them, watching them hungrily. A cruel smirk graced the dark wizards' face, he could literally smell the suppressed fear emitting from them.

"I truly hope that you don't mind sharing the details, Mr. Animus. Nagini is eager to hear how you've been able to get rid of a pest that has been bothering me for years over years." Voldemort said lazily, his disinterest seem to be almost forced.

Animus closed his eyes for a moment to suppress the shudder from the proximity of the large serpent to him. Releasing a deep breath as his eyes opened sharply, the memory coming to his mind in a sudden rush of colours, smells and sounds.

"Of course, sir. We are the Silver Death, a group of professional hit-wizards and witches. We are not from England, but your bounty on Mr. Potter has caught our attention. Surprisingly or not so much, it wasn't hard to start finding breadcrumbs he left of his location. He is, or better was, merely a teenage wizard. We have followed and tracked him for around two weeks-"

"And you haven't bothered contacting me once you had his location? That is quite intolerable, Mr. Animus." Voldemort's voice was cold and calm, but the few death eaters in the room could easily hear the furious undertone, and prepared themselves eagerly for a show.

The three kneeling figures' shoulders tensed, ready to defend their leader in case of any aggression towards him, but it wasn't needed.

"Sir, I do not mean to be disrespectful but please remember that I am merely your temporary employee, not your servant. Bluntly putting it, we are independent mercenaries, you give us a mission, we'll do it with our own resources and when it's done, we'll just come for the reward."

The Dark Lord barely could hold his anger in check from being scolded like a child by that fool. His bloody red eyes shone in rage as Nagini's movements became more violent, ready to strike. Calm green clashed with harsh red for many tense moments, the death eaters stood silently in the shadows, expecting to see the wizard's broken body hitting the floor at any second. They were proven absolutely wrong when the only thing their lord did was to hiss angrily, "Continue."

Suddenly the Decrowning Plan sounded much more attractive to the more doubtful death eaters.

"Very well. After tracking the boy for two weeks, we finally got an opening. We aren't completely sure of the details, but it seemed as if he had a major argument with his two friends and he decided to leave, which is why they weren't with him when we assaulted him."

Voldemort couldn't hide his surprise. "He left the mudblood and blood-traitor? Hah. So much for his adoration of Dumbledore's 'greatest power'." He sneered in cold amusement.

The dark-haired man nodded. "Yes, it was quite odd. We weren't able to find out what was the cause of their argument, but it was his fatal mistake. He apparated to Godric's Hollow, his late parents' house I believe? Mr. Potter left it shortly, not even bothering to set any protective wards around it. We set our ambush right in the house, intending to wait for his inevitable return. But before the boy returned, we already detected two wizards coming towards the house. The traces attracted more attention than we expected at first."

"It was Remus Lupin, former Hogwarts professor, werewolf. And Kingsley Shacklebot, quite a renowned senior auror, known for his leadership, and truly a wasteful death. They entered the house and we decided to wait, suspecting they were here to meet Mr. Potter. We were in luck that the boy came quickly, Mr. Shacklebot was starting to suspect that someone else was in the house."

"His arrival was their downfall in a way. He made his presence clear the moment he entered the house, drawing the two men to the front foyer, a deadly mistake. The foyer was a very open place without any objects to provide cover. It was more than easy enough to simply send a volley of spells at them. The 'fight' was short and predictable, their defences held only for a few moments."

Animus stopped for a moment, closing his eyes, a grimace of regret setting on his face.

"However, we didn't expect the ancient worn foundations of the house get affected by the bursts of magic. Unfortunately, they collapsed. Most of the house was absolutely destroyed, while some walls remained standing. We found the corpses of Harry Potter and his companions in the rubble, as well as three of our partners who were unable to escape the toppling house."

A silence hung for a few moments, only to be cut by low quiet chuckling. Voldemort threw his head back and let out a maniacal laughter that carried through the dark room and echoed horribly.

"How ironic: The unbeatable Boy-Who-Lived losing his life in the same house that his parents did, by a collapsing building, it was simply meant to be!" Another burst of laughter escaped him, as he slowly clapped.

Animus nodded at his three partners and they brought in three bodies, dropping them off in front of Voldemort. The teen's corpse attracted immediate attention, his young features pulled in a pained grimace, his limbs bent in awkward positions.

The Dark Lord focused on him, observing silently the final proof of his nemesis' death, almost unwilling to believe it was possible. With a sudden animalistic snarl dark wizard launched himself out of his throne, jabbing his bone-white wand at the corpse of the Boy-Who-Lived.

The body was sent flying towards the closest wall, crashing against it with a sharp crack of broken bones. The corpse thrashed around helplessly as many cuts and gashes appeared on it, caused by the violent slashes of Voldemort, who had a trail of foam coming out of his mouth by that point.

"YOU SEE? NO ONE can defy the Dark Lord Voldemort without suffering the consequences!" His crazed voice rang clearly in the silent room, its occupants looking in shock at the obviously mad wizard.

The silence lasted for many minutes, only to be interrupted by the slashes of Voldemort's wand and the sickening sound of breaking bones and ripping flesh. Many of the death eaters were able to exit the room quietly, unable to hold their lunches' contents.

Animus cleared his throat uncomfortably, trying not to look at the blood and gore covered Voldemort nor at the remains of what once was Harry Potter.

"Before me and my partners part sir, I still had a piece of information that I'm more than sure you'd like to know."

When he saw that he had the sick wizard's attention, he continued.

"Before Mr. Potter's death, I was able to hear a few words exchanged between him and the werewolf and auror. Mr. Shacklebot demanded him to escape while they covered him, while Mr. Lupin agreed and said that the destruction of the... Horcruxes was too important. Mr. Potter disagreed and claimed that five of them were already destroyed..." He trailed off uncertainly.

Voldemort's joyful expression was wiped off the moment he heard the word 'Horcruxes' only to be replaced by a mix of rage and terror.

"Get out." The cold words escaped his lips, his eyes glowing in a light that made every single occupant of the room shudder in fear. With a quick nod of acceptance, Animus and his three partners quickly made their way out without sparing even one glance to the deadly angry wizard behind them.

Red eyes swept over the room, observing his servants as they tried to humble themselves and try to look as unattractive as possible for a torture.

"You have an hour to find out which one of your comrades is going to suffer my wrath. You better find someone, if all of you don't want to suffer the worst fate any of you can even try to imagine." He spat at them in distaste before storming out of the room.

A figure stepped forward once their Lord was gone. His cold and calm grey eyes regarded the remaining death eaters in the room.

"We are another step closer to the realization of the Decrowning Plan. Pass the message around; we strike once the Dark Lord is too distracted with his own little problems."

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