The Wind is Changing

The Death Eater meeting had been one of the longest Rodolphus remembered. They had started at 10 am, by now it was late in the afternoon. Rodolphus hadn't thought he'd have to leave the children with the House Elves for so long but compared to the things the Dark Lord had been telling them, this was a minor issue indeed.

"Rodolphus, step to the front," he said after assigning tasks to many of the assembled Death Eaters. They were supposed to travel abroad, pass the Dark Lord's plans on to the local Death Eater organisations and lead the attacks he had planned. Rodolphus wasn't very keen on this kind of task. He hadn't planned any attacks for years. The last had actually been the one on the Longbottoms which hadn't been exactly successful.

He knelt down as the Dark Lord still demanded in meetings of the inner circle. "What do you wish me to do, my Lord?"

"You have listened carefully to what I have laid out so far, haven't you Rodolphus?"

"Surely, Master."

"Very good. This way you will be aware of the magnitude of the plan we're going to put into action. There will be deaths and injuries among our enemies and it would be unreasonable to expect that there won't be any retribution. There will be wounded supporters to take care of. Make sure that Saint Mungo-Hospital is capable of dealing with this situation. Enough room needs to be available as well as a sufficient amount of healing potions and ingredients. Evaluate the amount of available people and material and provide additions if necessary. Prepare the Healers for less comfortable times."

"Yes my Lord. I'll take care of that," Rodolphus said. He wouldn't have needed the Dark Lord's orders to think of these things.

"It is of utmost importance that the public and the media don't learn about our plans yet," the Dark Lord continued. "Therefore avoid telling your staff the reasons for these changes if possible."

"I will do my best," Rodolphus promised.

"There's something else," the Dark Lord added.

"Yes?" Rodolphus fought the feeling of disquiet.

"You're aware of the great value your unique skills have in a war, are you not?"

Rodolphus wasn't quite sure what he was talking about. Simply saying "yes" without knowing to what didn't seem to be a good idea. He let his confusion pass through his barriers for the Dark Lord to pick up.

"I'm talking about your intimate knowledge of the Cruciatus curse of course," the Dark Lord said. "The secrets you've shared only with Mr Longbottom must be guarded carefully. Neither you nor he may pass them on to anyone who has ties to foreign Healers. Making it public is out of the question as well."

Rodolphus considered if this interfered with his plans in any way. Dorothy Prewett didn't have ties to foreign Healers as far as Rodolphus knew.

"We didn't intend to publish it anyway," he said. This had been a dream of Rodolphus' youth but these days had long passed. "And we will guard it even more carefully now of course."

"Good. It's possible that we will need your knowledge about interrogation techniques as well. Your suggestion to modify Veritaserum so it could be administered over the skin has proven highly effective."

"Thank you Master," Rodolphus said.

"Too bad your wife didn't use the results the way I would have wished her to last time but I shall deal with her later."

Rodolphus felt slightly worried at this statement. In the past, this kind of hint had never meant anything good. The Dark Lord had already made it clear that he didn't approve of Bellatrix' decision to extradite the recently captured Grindelwald supporters to Germany. She had done so for the sake of keeping up an appearance of good diplomatic relations. They had planned an attack on Diagon Alley and the Dark Lord would have preferred to make an example of them.

"We might need your skills to optimize interrogations," the Dark Lord continued. "Your skills and Longbottom's as well. It would be an excellent opportunity for him to prove his loyalty, don't you agree?"

"I'm certain that Neville Longbottom will do everything in his powers to make sure that our injured comrades receive the best possible treatment," Rodolphus said. "He doesn't have any specific expertise in the era of enforcement however. Access to these matters has always been restricted to marked members. You never wished for anyone else to learn about it."

Rodolphus knew that Neville would never agree to do what the Dark Lord had proposed. He hadn't learned to use the Cruciatus curse and he didn't approve of its use either. Rodolphus hoped that the Dark Lord would realise this rather than attempt to knowingly force a useful person into trouble. The proper treatment of war casualties wasn't possible if the hospital lost one of its best Healers.

"You're right of course," the Dark Lord said. "These areas have always been restricted to marked members. He should take the mark. I wanted him to do so back in 1998 though I appreciated his difficult situation. Times have changed now however. I want him to become a Death Eater."

Rodolphus carefully hid his thoughts and feelings once again. Neville, becoming a Death Eater so he could participate in torture which was kept secret from the ordinary citizens? He would rather die than agree to that, Rodolphus knew this. Neville already supported enemies of the Dark Lord; he'd never take the mark, not even if it wasn't for this specific purpose.

"I shall inform him about your wish of course," Rodolphus said. "It will probably come as a surprise though. So far, Neville has strongly believed that a Healer shouldn't take upon himself any obligations beyond his oath. Like most Healers do, actually. None of them is a member of our circle. I'll need time."

"Lord Voldemort will give you one month. We won't need his service any earlier than that."

"Thank you, Master," Rodolphus said without feeling anything close to gratefulness. One month wasn't much but it might be enough to come up with a solution. At the moment, his mind was completely blank. He knew that the Dark Lord probably wouldn't compromise. Whenever he started referring to himself in third person, danger was brewing.

"That is all. You may return to your seat."

Rodolphus obeyed, contemplating the problem in his mind.

"Listen my Death Eaters, the time of the Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers shall soon be over. Not only in our glorious land but all over Europe. The path to this goal won't be easy but it is worth it, isn't it?"

Everyone answered with yes even though Rodolphus strongly doubted it was really worth it. He couldn't care less about Mudbloods in France, Germany or the Balkans countries. To him, the UK was more than enough. He wanted his children to grow up in peace and improve the knowledge of healing magic available.

"The Mudbloods and Blood's Traitors of Europe will find themselves facing an unprecedented campaign of terror while the true pure-bloods will finally be able to rise from the filth they've been forced to live among and take on the place they deserve. We will lead Europe's pure-bloods to freedom and destroy the unworthy. Are you prepared for the purge of Europe?"

The Death Eaters answered with a chorused yes.

"Are you prepared for the magnification of our glorious empire?"

"Yes we are!"

"Are you prepared for a merciless war upon everyone unworthy to carry magic?"

"Yes, we are!"

"Good! The lying traitor Anthony Goldstein has to die. The first attempt has failed, the second one may not! Fail again and you will face the wrath of Lord Voldemort!"

Rodolphus looked at Ian Mulciber who tried to give the Dark Lord a confident look The Imperius curse specialist belonged to the original inner circle, one of the Dark Lord's first Death Eaters. The death of Goldstein seemed to be highly important to the Dark Lord, otherwise he wouldn't send such a trusted supporter to kill him. The other tasks had been given to newer members. Rodolphus considered this more reasonable because they were younger and better able to fight.

"The same goes for the treacherous Headmistress of Durmstrang, Galina Achatowa. Antonin Dolohov, I put my full trust into you."

"Thank you Master," the Russian-born Death Eater muttered. He too was with the Dark Lord ever since he had met him on his early journeys. Rodolphus was quite positive that Dolohov wouldn't fail.

"Very well. This should be settled then," the Dark Lord said. "When we take the fight to Europe, security at home must be given even higher priority than usual. I'm talking to you Bella but everyone else is required to do his or her part as well. It should be obvious that we need to do everything magically possible to keep witches and wizards from abroad entering our country without permission. The recent incident should give us a good excuse to put this into action."

This was definitely sensible, Rodolphus thought. Those Grindelwald supporters were a serious threat and he knew that many other European countries had groups of dangerous dark wizards or Aurors working abroad as well. He charmed a quill to write down everything the Dark Lord was saying now. Otherwise he might not be able to keep track and it sounded important.

"The common people in our country as well as in the others are not to be informed about our plans so far if it is avoidable. The newspapers and radio stations may not mention it anywhere. If things go as planned, we should be able to achieve our goal without any official declaration of war. Everyone who does spread classified information will have to suffer the consequences. When the time comes, I shall inform the public in person"

Rodolphus didn't like this dishonesty but he understood why the Dark Lord was doing it of course. Many people mainly supported the new regime because they didn't want to threaten the peace and return to the dark times of war. If the Dark Lord's plans became known too quickly, there might be trouble.

"We cannot purge Europe of traitors and unworthy ones as long as we're not free of these ourselves. Everyone who works against us in any fashion or does anything else which is meant to weaken our position in the upcoming war shall be prosecuted mercilessly. This also applies to people who speak up against war in general or the use of certain forms of magic in war. Everyone who is not a citizen of this country will be put into custody and punished accordingly if he or she doesn't have a good explanation for their presence. People unable to apply for personal citizenship because of physical or mental illness are required to get an examination by you, Rodolphus that assures us that they are in fact unable."

Rodolphus suppressed a sigh. This would mean lots of tedious extra work. This model was rather popular among families of people who had been injured during the war and weren't exactly loyal supporters of the Dark Lord. Neville's mother was one of them.

"This shouldn't be handed out lightly. People in this category are henceforth banned from leaving Saint Mungo-Hospital or the house and property of their caretaker without the company of their caretaker or a marked Death Eater. If they are incapable of applying for citizenship, this is necessary for their own and others safety. Rabastan, you shall make those new rules public as soon as possible."

"Yes Master."

"Wizards and witches who have been enemies of our regime in the past and wish to apply for citizenship shall have to plea for clemency in front of myself and all of you. Simply handing in a written declaration shall not be enough in these cases. This rule applies to former members of the organisations calling themselves "Order of the Phoenix" and "Dumbledore's Army" as well as any former Aurors and participants in the illegal radio station Potterwatch or any other illegal activity. That was all. You may go. Only Bella will remain. We have to discuss your failure in dealing with the captured Grindelwald supporters appropriately. To the rest, have a good evening."

Using the killing curse to exterminate weed was a waste of magic, Rodolphus knew that. It was excellent stress relief as well though. He was worried about Bellatrix. The Dark Lord wasn't in a very clement mood at the moment, that much had become clear during the meeting.

That wasn't Rodolphus' only problem though. The amount of unpleasant news he had to bring to Neville was stifling. The Dark Lord planned to make him become a Death Eater and participate in torture and he required his mother to go through the humiliating procedure of pleading for clemency in front of the Dark Lord himself and all the Death Eaters. Rodolphus thought he might be able to make Neville believe that it was better for the tortured prisoners if they were under medical supervision but it would definitely not be easy. The issue with Alice was difficult as well. He probably could declare her ill enough to require Neville's guardianship without doing any real examination but then she'd be almost a prisoner in their own house, especially when Neville had to work more due to the new developments. Rodolphus didn't think she'd agree to plead for mercy in front of everyone. Theodore Nott had been close to persuading her to fill out the form but this wasn't enough for the Dark Lord anymore. If only they had acted more quickly. Rodolphus had to be open with Neville and explain the situation the way it depicted itself. He needed to know what was going on so he could make an informed decision. This was the best course in the healing arts and the situation at hand was no different.

Another plant went brown as it was hit by a green flash of light. There was something thrilling about this curse, a feeling of power unmatched by any of the others. Rodolphus was familiar with all three of the curses which had once been called "unforgivable" and he considered all of them fascinating though the second one the most.

Despite of his interest in those curses, Rodolphus could not approve of the plans for dealing with the rest of Europe which the Dark Lord had announced at the meeting. Rodolphus had felt as if he had travelled thirty years into the past, the Dark Lord's strategies hadn't changed at all. This strategy if you could call it such had worked in Great Britain, but only because the former Ministry had been extremely corrupt and incompetent and many of the old, respected pure-blood families had supported the Dark Lord. The Death Eaters' efforts to rebuild everything properly after Potter's death had probably played their part as well. The other ministries might not be any better, Rodolphus didn't know, but their pure-blood families weren't interested in the Dark Lord.

Grindelwald had fallen extremely quickly when he had tried what the Dark Lord was planning now.

Rodolphus wasn't sure if they weren't going to lose Neville before he even learned about the Dark Lord's plans. He hadn't gotten in touch since his Memory Potion had worked. It was quite possible that the memories he had seen would bring his Gryffindor recklessness back to the surface and make him do something unreasonable. A mistake Rodolphus had to keep him from. If he wouldn't get a message from Neville soon, he'd probably visit the Longbottoms a second time. He knew that he could get there via the Floo-network now.

The use of the killing curse made him tired but there was still plenty of weed on the path that led to the gate. Rodolphus decided to use the herbicide potion after all; otherwise he'd never get this over with.

Roderic and Roxana were inside playing Gobstones. Rodolphus watched them with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Never before had he been so worried about their future. He had believed that they had it made and now this.

He went downstairs to his potions storeroom and fetched the herbicide. It killed the weeds fare more quickly and efficiently than the killing curse. Rodolphus used a spell that turned the dead plants into earth quickly and another one to destroy the herbicide before he put the earth into a bag. It could be used to plant something in a place where he actually wanted it.

He had just finished when an owl arrived. Neville recognised it. The tawny owl belonged to the Longbottoms. At least, a message from Neville. Rodolphus quickly unfolded the piece of parchment. Neville thanked him for his help and requested a meeting to check if his magic allowed for a return to work.

Rodolphus thought that it would be best if they met as quickly as possible. He'd have the chance to find out if Neville's feelings had changed in any way. Rodolphus decided to simply contact the Longbottoms via the mirror to tell him so.

The entire Longbottom family was in the living-room together. Neville seemed to have recovered rather well. The children were playing on the floor while Hannah and Alice argued in the background.

"I know you don't want to believe this but I know him much better than you do," Alice said.

"You only know what Dumbledore has told you."

"I've met him in person."

Neville motioned them to be quiet. "Good evening," he said.

"Good evening Neville. I've just received your message. I'll send you owl back this evening. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks. The potion worked the way it was supposed to now."

"I'm glad to hear it. You could come around tomorrow if you don't have any other plans. If everything's alright you can go back to work on Monday."

Neville smiled at this. He loved his work as much as Rodolphus had in the past. As far as he could see via the mirror, the memories hadn't changed much.

"That's fine," Neville said and they decided on a time.

"Dad, can I talk to Debbie?" Roxana asked. Rodolphus had no objections. He didn't want to discuss any details with the children and the Longbottom women listening.

Rodolphus listened to the two children chatting and his mind drifted elsewhere again. It was past eight already and Bellatrix was still with the Dark Lord. He wasn't jealous, given the situation, there wasn't the slightest reason to be, he was worried.

Roxana interrupted these thoughts. "Dad, Debbie would like to visit me now after all. Can she?"

Rodolphus was surprised to hear this. Neville hadn't wanted his daughter to stay in their house on her own so far.

"Yes, she can but not right now. I have to talk to your mother first."

Her daughter's meetings with her friends were probably rather low on the list of Bellatrix' priorities at the moment, Rodolphus thought. "It will probably not be possible right away."

Roxana passed the message on and they spent a bit more time talking. Afterwards, the three of them ate a quick dinner. The children wanted to know where their mother was. "She has a meeting with the Dark Lord," Rodolphus said.

He had barely finished eating, when his own mark burned. "Listen, Roxy, Roderic, the Dark Lord wants to see me too now. I hope we'll be back soon, Mimi's there if you need anything."

The children took this calmly; it wasn't the first time they had to leave them in the care of the House Elves.