The scream of rage, of denial, left him as if it were a stranger's, it could not be true, it was impossible. Nobody had ever known: how was it possible that the brat could have discovered his secret?
He slashed the Elder Wand and green light hit the kneeling goblin. He fell forward dead. The watching wizards were terrified from the outburst. Bellatrix and Lucius threw others behind them racing for the door. Without thinking about it Lord Voldemort killed ten of his followers, six inner circle and four ward specialists. Of those who were left all of them were slain. They had brought him the news and the goblin, about the LeStrange Vault and the Golden Cup of Helga Hufflepuff.
Alone among the dead, he sat down on his throne. Then all his treasures, his safeguards, his anchors to immortality passed thru his mind. The diary was destroyed, Lucius had been tortured for that and he still planned on killing him and his, maybe. Now the cup was stolen, what if, the Brat knew about the others? How could he know, had he traced more of them? Was Dumbledore at the root of this? Dumbledore, the greatest wizard, supposedly. Who had always suspected him, dead on his orders. Malfoy's brat had succeeded there, so maybe not kill him. Dumbledore, whose wand was his now, yet who reached out from the grave to do him harm.
But surely if the Brat had destroyed any of his Horcruxes;, he, Lord Voldemort, the greatest living wizard would have known it? He would have known, those most important and precious parts of himself had been destroyed. But then a horrible thought, what if the Diary and mutilating the rest of his soul had caused him to not know! Though true, he had not felt when his precious Diary had been destroyed, but he had thought that was because he had no body to feel. Surely, the rest were safe, he could check, the other Horcruxes must be intact.
But he must know for sure. He paced the room, kicking aside the goblin's corpse as he passed, still not seeing both LeStranges, Avery, Nott Senior, Crab and Goyle Senior. Their bodies not registering. He will not find out what he did, as he leaves and the Malfoy elves clean up. The lake with Slytherin's Locket; the shack with the Slytherin Ring; Nagini, his familiar was here, and Hogwarts with the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. He did not know what was to come.
A calm settled his rage. He was petting Nagini. Now how could the Brat know that the Slytherin ring was hidden in the Gaunt shack? No one had ever known him to be related to the Gaunts, their deaths as well as the Riddles had been covered up, as pure bloods, but crazy killing of his father had put his uncle in Azkaban. He had hidden the connection, the killings had been traced to his uncle. The ring, surely, was safe.
How could the Brat, or anybody else, know about the cave? Or if they did, get past his protections. The blood sacrifice that took ten percent of the persons magic. The idea of the locket being stolen was absurd, the over five hundred inferni would kill them, especially as only one person could cross in the boat. The thing is he forgot that his intent was no human other than himself and one other. He would not drink the bloody potion, he was Lord Voldemort, Lord Slytherin, Lord of his slaves.
As for the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw in the school; he alone knew where it was in Hogwarts; because he alone had plumbed the deepest secrets of the school; not Dumbledore. Nagini, who must remain close now, no longer sent on missions, doing his bidding.
But he had to be completely sure, he must check each of his hiding places, he must add to the protections around each of his Horcruxes. Just like his quest for the Elder Wand, he must undertake alone. Which should he do first, which was in most danger? An unease flowed inside his mind. Dumbledore had known his middle name was Marvolo, Dumbledore might have made the connection with the Gaunts. Their home was the least secure of his hiding places. After all he had been young and still arrogant.
The cave and lake, surely impossible; but there a slight possibility that Dumbledore might have known; he might have learned of some of his past misdeeds, through the orphanage. He had tried to make another Horcrux, but it failed, so the seven pieces counts himself, perhaps because of the resurrection.
He knew that his Horcrux was safe, it would be impossible for Potter to enter Hogsmeade without detection, let alone the school. Nevertheless, it would be prudent to alert Snape to the fact that the Brat might try to re-enter the castle. But should he tell Snape why the Brat might return. It would be foolish, as it had been a grave mistake to trust Bellatrix and Malfoy. Their carelessness now proved how unwise it was, to ever trust anyone!
He would visit the Gaunt shack first. He would take Nagini with him, he could not trust anyone else to leave her with. He paused in his musing, he considered the very unlikely probability that he could be defeated and killed. Not by the Brat, no matter how lucky he was, he did have powerful allies. They could finish his work, if it got out to them. No, he must make plans, just in case such an outcome did happen, as small a chance as it might be.
It was annoying how the Brat hid behind other powerful wizards and witches. He won't last a day without help from the others. Snape always told him that Potter was weak, stupid and absolutely reckless. He had seen that in his year with him at the school. That the only reason he survived all these years was because other powerful people were behind it and he was lucky. Snape would know, he has been teaching him since his first year. But whether to trust that or not. He needed to trust in something. Their terror of him should get him the truth.
If only there was some way to separate him from all his help and the network of people, Dumbledore left him. He would have loved for him, Lord Slytherin to see him, when he was at his peak. If he was grown by that time, he would have shown him, the true power of Magic.
What if he was in someplace where no one knew who he was? No one was willing to die for him? No one to protect him? Where he had no one and nothing? No intelligent or brave friends risking their lives? With no money, name or fame to aid him? What if he appeared in a time, when he was at his peak? Where he was young, powerful, and had the Diary and Ring only? Where his body was unaffected by the resurrection?
It could be done, but the question is, what if he sent him only to find that he had somehow managed to overcome everything and rallied everyone behind him? He was resourceful alright and somehow, managed to make the most powerful men and women, do his bidding. It can't just be luck, perhaps Snape was blinded by his hate for the Potters. Then he had a thought. Both Snape and Peter had asked for Lily to be their slaves. Could he have harbored some resentment? He remembered about some time travel experiments in the DoM.
Time travel was not limited. A person could travel anywhere back in time without an issue. The issue was about coming back or not. He started to smirk, Nagini now slithering around his body. He won't return, Voldemort will reign supreme in the world. He would have to make sure he can change whatever spell or potion there was. It must suit his need. It would be tricky. But wasn't he the most powerful wizard of all times, his arrogance again getting to him. He would need more information though. Good thing he had just the person, Augusto Rookwood. His Unspeakable spy from Ministry of Magic.
Now, how would he have the needed knowledge? He would need to know about him to kill him. Let us see then, he first needed to gain all the knowledge about time travel. As far as he knew, only 8 hours was safe to be traveled back. "Bellatrix, send my head of DoM Rookwood into see me, NOW!", Voldemort bellowed.
A tall, slim, grey skinned, greasy-haired man entered, fearfully. He looks a lot like Snape. Will need to kill him after getting the info. His body shook as he saw the room. Nevertheless, he bowed down to Voldemort. Rookwood had always been unfailingly loyal, but Barty had been better, both going to prison. "How may I serve you, my Lord." The emphasis on Lord, again made him decide to end him in a way, after he got the info, he needed.
"What can you tell me about time travel that the Ministry knows?", Voldemort asked in a casual voice. Rookwood looked surprised.
"Master, the longest period that can be redone, without the possibility of serious harm to the traveler, is around 8 hours. The Time Turners become unstable past that point. The more magic in the environment, causes more problems past 6 hours. The hourglass is worn around the wizards' neck and revolved according to the number of hours the person wishes to relive."
"Go on Rockwood, my most devoted." Bellatrix heard this and knew her days would be numbered if she did not do something big.
"All attempts to travel back further than 8 hours have resulted in major harm to the wizard involved, when coming back. The ministry kept it quiet, but one Unspeakable, over a hundred years ago, managed to travel back over a thousand years, only to come back having aged that, a petrified corpse from age. She had managed to change the future or her past. It was found out, as she had her notes on her. She actually was a friend of Rowena Ravenclaw.
They created a spell to bring her back, but another to send her mind back. Her notes showed that 5 families had vanished that had been enemies of her family. That scared the Ministry, so that twenty or so laws went into effect, before someone can use a Time turner." Rookwood stopped abruptly as Voldemort put his hand up.
"What is the spell?" Lord Voldemort asked. "Not just the abridged one, but both?"
"I don't know, My Lord. It was not my area of study.", Rookwood said timidly.
"I shall return in four hours. You better have found the spell in the DoM. Is that clear? Don't say a word of this to anyone or you will be tortured for a long time, before dying.", Lord Voldemort ordered. Rookwood nodded frantically and ran out of the door. Bellatrix had just had time to move to the side.
Voldemort called Nagini to him. "We need to check on my horcruxes, my dear. Especially since Malfoy and Bella proved to be untrustworthy." He needed to make a backup plan, just in case the Brat managed to destroy all his soul anchors, unlikely as that may be. He returned four and a half hours later. He spent his rage on the inferi. Seeing the other Black among them had so enraged his mind that by the time his temper had cooled, there was very little lake there.
Blacks were definitely untrustworthy. His worst fears had been confirmed. All of them were gone. He needed a fail safe back up plan, it was imperative now. The Brat knew about the horcruxes. He was searching for the last one in his thoughts of Godric's Hollow telling him that the Brat did not know everything. The way Dumbe-As-A-Door was, he probably just left clues. The Diary and Locket had caused them to go to Gringotts. He needed to get his last two plans into action, way before he decided to end it all.
Rookwood was standing there with a few scrolls, sticking out of a tome. "My Lord! Here is the spells. I cannot tell you them, for I had to give a vow to not tell, before the magic surrounding the book would let me read it. The coming back spell and any knowledge of it was destroyed though, just a notation that it would be a one way trip. No further knowledge except in this book is available."
Voldemort looked at the two spells and how it was made. He was very pleased with both of them. The one for the Brat was a rather simple spell. It wouldn't take much time. The one for him, would require a potion and ritual, especially if he wants it to work, only if he died. He dismissed Rookwood, sending him off to Hogwarts. He gave orders to just attack the wards, but stall more than anything else, once they are down. He knew this would weaken Rockwood and make him easier to kill by the Brats followers. He needed three hours for Snape to do the potion and two for the Ritual. Luckily each was not dependent on the other. Rookwood bowed, thinking he was replacing the others as his Lords most trusted and left.
There was small note attached to both the spells. Since he did not have the correct permission to read them, both the notes stayed in the tome. Voldemort disregarded the rest of the book. There wasn't much time, Potter was already moving in on Hogwarts. Voldemort got to work. He left to meet Snape. Then start on the ritual. An hour should be more than enough to fix the spells as he wanted. Bellatrix picked up the book. She decided to read it. Being already insane, she was able to read the two notes.
The first was that the Unspeakable was a Peverell and when she appeared in the past, she had a baby her also. They understood that the baby her could not go forward in time, but would have to stay there. She married into the Potters, a newly infused muggleborn. The second note said that if only sending the mind back, the body must die. This was a little off.
START FLASHBACK:
Lily had read about a spell to split your soul in half, so that you would not die from the AK. There was a way to give the slightly smaller half to a child of your body, to protect it and cause a major backlash to the caster. It was in the hand written notes of Jenny Merope Potter nee Peverell. Lily had tried everything else first, but finally settled on that. She had got Sirius to Blood Adopt her Harry as a precaution, so Malfoy could not inherit.
She also got Peter to go rat form and do the runes, so no one would notice them. It worked, she did not notice that they would show her naked to him on his mirror, or that he made all the protection runes not work. She did not understand the real intent behind the splitting of her soul. It made her into almost two different people. The one that fell in love with James and who hated her sister, and one who loved Harry beyond any other and wanted her family whole. This included her parents and Tunie with or without her daughter.
END FLASHBACK:
When he was sure that the spell would work as he wanted, he thought hard about the object to put it into. He looked at his new wand and frowned. This is the one, the only way the Brat would get it, is from his cold dead fingers. No one throws away the Elder wand. He converted the wand into his fail safe. Sending his mind back to when he had not yet given any Black or Malfoy a Horcrux. It was time to make the wand his own by getting rid of Snape. Soon the world will be his, no matter if his plan for the Brat does not work, his vision would.
Harry was relieved. It was bloody hell over. He was so tired and in need of a shower. He was not happy Hermione took Ron back. Hell, he was not sure why he took him back, even with him saving him. Something about it, just seemed to affect his subconscious. He had felt it before, during fourth year. Then last year with how much he spent time with Ginny, instead of practicing. They started kissing. Shit he needed to fuck Ginny. Wait what, where the bloody hell did that come from. It was obvious that her and Dean were together. He spit out the following words. "It's over finally! I know I should be celebrating, but with all the people we lost, I can't even smile. At least, no one else will die by his or his followers hand, that suicide pact in the Dark Marks makes that real. Tom Riddle and all his followers are dead!"