Originally Posted on AO3 November 2021 to July 2022

complete in 29 chapters

Part 3 of Old Magics

When a Dark Lord refuses to announce his return and the Ministry decides your headmaster is just a barmy old man telling lies, what do you do? And the Dark Lord was back, he had been over for tea, after all – Lynea would recognise that face anywhere.

Well, as long as he didn't go around murdering people, she supposed it was fine. He wasn't even attacking Harry, despite the two of them being prophesised to clash because 'neither can live while the other survives' or something like that. If the Dark Lord had decided to lie low, maybe they could actually focus on more imminent threats – like the pink toad that was going around torturing students or the Necromancer family from the continent that actually cursed people for fun. But who was Lynea to judge that?


AN

Begins at the summer between years 4 and 5. You should probably read at least part 2, Blue of Blood, first. Or better yet, start at part 1, Lemuria, because a few things have changed in dear Tom's past that will have an impact on this story.


July 1995, summer of 4th year

Summer was the season of sunny days, of warmth, and of holidays. Summer was a season for fun and happiness and relaxation. Summer … did not go the way it was supposed to, this year.

This did not come as a surprise, of course, considering what had happened just over a week ago, but still … Well, it wasn't like Lynea had ever really enjoyed summer all that much, anyway. It was simply too hot for her liking – and, yes, there were cooling spells, but that didn't mean she couldn't complain about it. Though it was one thing to complain about the heat and it was an entirely different one to live in a home with two depressed and suffering teenagers. Both in their own ways, both with their own issues, both because of one Dark Lord. The very same Dark Lord that had most certainly returned but not actually done anything so far. It had not even been two weeks, yet, so he was most likely just gathering his followers behind the scenes, regrouping and formulating his plans and strategies for the future.

Harry and Theodore were both avoiding Lynea – or at least Harry was and Theodore was just too caught up in his own misery. Lynea was not exactly the ideal person to be around when it came to – well, anything related to emotions, really – so that might have actually been for the best, if not for the fact that the only other person in the house who could have helped them was her mother, Phyllida, and they were avoiding her, too.

No one would ever expect Naenia to deal with things like this. She had her moments, sure, but she was still an undead Necromancer, in the end.

"They are moving fast," said Necromancer commented, her eyes not leaving the newspaper article she was skimming over. "It hasn't even been two weeks, there is no way to tell whether Dumbledore is telling the truth or not, and they are already starting to discredit him." Her lips curled into a small smile that did not reach her eyes. "They are even putting in the effort to mention him in a few other articles."

"In what way?" Lynea asked curiously.

Naenia did not answer her, but narrowed her eyes at the newspaper and then said, "Perseus, draft a letter to one of my contacts with the Daily Prophet and arrange for a meeting with Harry."

The Inferius, who had been standing impassively behind Naenia's armchair, bowed and left the room.

"They are discrediting Harry, too?" Lynea asked.

In that case Naenia would probably sweep down on the Ministry and the Prophet both and make them stop instantly. Harry would have to make an official statement – carefully worded and vague – and that should be enough.

"It is barely noticeable," Naenia replied, turning the page. "But it is always better to nip these things in the bud."

Lynea blinked at her grand-aunt's choice of words.

"They will have to leave Harry alone, but I am not going to dissuade them from the notion of demoting Dumbledore," Naenia continued. "He may not actually be a barmy old man, but losing his position as Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards will do him some good. They might even demote him from Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, if we're lucky, although they will most likely wait a few more weeks to make it seem less conspicuous."

"He does have a lot of titles and influential positions, doesn't he?" Lynea mused. "And no one ever wondered why he alone held so much power?"

"Everyone loved him," Naenia said, folding the paper. "He has been holding too much power for a single man for decades, but no one ever considered how dangerous that could turn out be."

"Are you going to help them?" Lynea asked.

Naenia smiled gently. "I am afraid I cannot interfere anymore. Now that Tom has returned to power, it would be an act against our neutrality. A pity, really, but the Ministry seems to be doing just fine on their own – despite their foolhardy blindness regarding Tom's return."

"They won't start believing it once the Dark Lord actually becomes active, either, will they?"

"Not without definite proof," Naenia said. "And Tom knows what he is doing."

"What is he doing?" Lynea asked, but her grand-aunt only smiled and never answered her.

Lynea felt the shift in the wards the same moment Amelia suddenly straightened up and then said, "Harry, Naenia requests that you please go to your room and stay there until she calls for you. We have an unwanted visitor."

"Who is it?" Harry asked.

"The Dark Lord."

"Should I leave as well?" Lynea asked with wide eyes.

Amelia shook her head. "Naenia wishes for you to witness this."

"So that I can tell Harry later," Lynea murmured with a glance to Harry, who had gone very, very still.

He was trembling slightly and she could not read his expression, but she could read Theodore's. Theodore was shocked and scared and desperately wished to be anywhere else. Neither of the boys moved.

Lynea did not know whether Naenia had had the foresight to tell Phyllida to come and collect them, or whether her mother had decided to do that on her own – but she came into the living room with Emery and ushered both Harry and Theodore out of the room and up the stairs. Naenia, herself, emerged from the basement, accompanied by her third Inferius, Perseus, just before their visitor arrived at their doorstop.

Lynea followed her grand-aunt into the hallway and watched her open the door from a safe distance. Or as safe as you could be with the Dark Lord on your doorstep – ashen skin, scarlet eyes snake-like nose and all. He looked just as scary in the daylight as he had under the moonlight in the graveyard. Or maybe that was just his presence. He did look scary, yes, but appearance alone did not instil fear inside others. (Right?)

"Naenia," the Dark Lord said.

"Tom," she replied.

They both wore carefully blank expressions that Lynea suspected were hiding quite a lot of complicated emotions and just looked at each other for a long while.

And then the most unbelievable thing happened. Naenia raised a hand and laid it on the Dark Lord's cheek in a tender gesture and the next moment, they were sharing a hug. And they seemed comfortable doing it.

It felt strange for Lynea to witness such an intimate moment and she consciously looked away until they broke apart.

Lynea knew her grand-aunt did not like physical touch, not with living beings anyway. She had once mentioned that she had grown used to it during her time at Hogwarts, at least with those closest to her, but all that had been lost when she had died.

The Dark Lord did not seem like a person to enjoy this sort of thing, either, to look so perfectly in the right place. It was unsettling.

"Naenia," the Dark Lord repeated, "love, it has been so very long."

"Forty-two years," Naenia said quietly. "We have not seen each other since the day you killed me." She tilted her head and smiled. "You lied to me. You said it would be your last gift, but then you left me this." She raised her left hand, the one with the ugly golden ring, the-ring-that-was-not-a-wedding-ring – even though she wore it like one.

"It was already yours," the Dark Lord replied. "I honoured your wishes and did no more than kill you, so I believe my last was an adequate gift."

Naenia inclined her head, still smiling, and let him inside.

Lynea retreated into the living room, standing awkwardly next to the door until her grand-aunt and the Dark Lord had settled down and Naenia gestured for her to join them.

"Tea?" Naenia asked and then waved her hand to have a tray prepare itself on the table between them.

"I can't help but notice that you seem to be missing one, my dear."

Naenia glanced at her three Inferi, all lined up next to the door. "He wanted to be buried next to his wife."

"I see," the Dark Lord said and gingerly picked up one of the cups of tea with his long and thin fingers. "And are you planning to add your newest friend to your collection?"

"Father Wilson is a devout Christian," Naenia said and that seemed to be enough of an answer for the Dark Lord.

Lynea had a vague idea of what was going on, but most of the words that went spoken and unspoken between the two went over her head.

"Tom –" Naenia began and the Dark Lord made an angry noise that had Naenia roll her eyes. "Marvolo," she corrected and then huffed. "Oh, don't give me that look. I will not call you 'Lord Voldemort' – that anagram is still as ridiculous as it was fifty years ago. I can't believe you went with that despite what I told you in third-year. Lord Gaunt had such a nice ring to it, it is a pity you discarded that name."

"It had served its purpose and was of no more use to me," the Dark Lord said.

"Did you not have everything you could wish for as Lord Gaunt?" Naenia asked. "You were influential. You had friends in high places. Everyone admired you, Tom."

The Dark Lord narrowed his eyes, but Lynea wasn't sure whether that was because of the name or what Naenia had said or both. He did not correct her about using his old name, though.

"It was never about influence, Naenia. You know that."

Naenia sighed, but there was a smile gracing her lips. "And to think you were handsome and charming once." She laughed lightly. "You could have wrapped everyone around your little finger back then with the mere batting of your eyelashes, but now – now you have to force your will upon the people around you with the promise pain and violence. It is a pity, a tragedy, truly." She shook her head, still smiling.

"I have not come here to reminiscence about the past," the Dark Lord said.

"Have you not?" Naenia asked, tilting her head. "Well, then. Let us talk about more recent matters. Your failed ritual, for one, and Harry Potter." A highly unusual and rather disturbing expression of pure glee appeared on her face. "You did not want to listen to me, so you had to pay the price. I told you it would never be true immortality."

"I had yet to complete the seven, when that … unfortunate event took place."

Naenia snorted at that, but didn't comment.

"But yes," the Dark Lord said and Lynea was surprised at how calm he still sounded. "You were right." He turned his red, red eyes to Lynea, who did her best to remain calm and impassive. "I am sure you have already heard all about my latest try."

"Your latest failure," Naenia said.

The Dark Lord acquiesced that statement with a nod. Lynea could barely believe her eyes.

"I have yet to find out where I erred and it may take several more years, but I will not repeat the same mistakes twice."

"Not with the ritual, maybe," Naenia said, a slightly mocking undertone to her voice that Lynea might have imagined, "but you have already repeated the mistake you made with Harry Potter."

The Dark Lord was silent for a minute.

"I will admit that I was not entirely myself, on that night in the graveyard."

The Dark Lord was admitting to – Oh, this day could not get any stranger.

"I certainly would not have let the boy escape like that," the Dark Lord continued. "But I had only just returned to a body of my own and taken the blow of the failed ritual – yes, I admit my mistake. I have taken time to collect myself and think back on what happened and it will not happen again. I will kill that boy when I next see him."

"Why?" Naenia asked. "Others might believe revenge to be the reason, or a show of power – that the infant that brought upon your downfall was no more than a weak boy and all that. But your fixation on Harry Potter already began before you tried to kill him in his crib. So why, Tom? Why do you wish so desperately for his death?"

This was in so far surprising to Lynea that she had not known the Dark Lord had specifically been trying to kill Harry all those years ago. She had always assumed he had been after Harry's parents, who had been part of Dumbledore's Order and that Harry would have been just another casualty if not for the blood magic his mother had used to protect her son.

"I do not wish – I will kill him. That is no more and no less than a fact."

The Dark Lord did not continue and Naenia did not ask again. Lynea stared at the two cups of tea that had gone cold, left untouched, and the empty one the Dark Lord had drank from.

Several minutes of uncomfortable silence passed, during which Naenia and the Dark Lord just stared at each other and Lynea started questioning her sanity and the reason she was even here, when these two were having such a private conversation. And then she remembered that she was supposed to tell Harry, who could have most certainly not witnessed this, himself – even his Invisibility Cloak had its weaknesses. And then she remembered that she was a Lémure and therefore obligated to stay neutral in the conflict between the Dark Lord and those opposing him and started questioning her grand-aunt's intention again. If she told Harry, she would go against the family's rules. If she didn't tell Harry, then why was she here?

"A Prophecy," the Dark Lord said and Lynea tried to bring her focus back and remember what he and Naenia had been talking about.

"Told by a true Seer?" Naenia asked curiously, leaning forward in her seat.

"Yes. The boy is destined to have 'the power to vanquish the Dark Lord'."

"He has the power to, but the Prophecy did not state that he actually will?" Naenia asked and when the Dark Lord hesitated, her expression turned incredulous. "You did not know the full content of this Prophecy and yet you acted on it and look what happened!" She shook her head. "You should know better than that, Tom."

"He was a mere infant," the Dark Lord said, his voice tinged with annoyance.

"And yet," Naenia said.

"I will know its full content soon enough," the Dark Lord said dismissively and then was interrupted before he could continue.

"Yes, you will. Because I will look into it."

Lynea looked at her grand-aunt in surprise and then did a double-take when she realized Naenia's sudden amusement came from the fact that the Dark Lord had done the exact same thing.

"I know what you are planning, Tom," Naenia continued. "I always do."

"Must I remind you of your neutrality?" the Dark Lord said, perfectly composed once more.

Naenia laughed. "Not at all. I am merely stating what I know." She tilted her head to the side. "Although our dear Professor Dumbledore would tell you the same, yet mean something else entirely. He has formed his own ideas about your plans and schemes, I am sure."

The Dark Lord scoffed at that. "Dumbledore will never be able to even guess at my true plan – dear Professor Dumbledore, the old hypocrite."

Lynea wondered what was up with the 'dear', but it wasn't like she could just ask. She still didn't know what she was doing here.

"He has called back his little group – what were they called again?" Naenia put a finger to her chin. "That's right – the Order of the Phoenix, of all things. It is not as impressive as it was back in the day – which is entirely your fault, except for the Longbottom's, maybe – and they are struggling so very much. It is delightful."

"I have noticed their pathetic attempts," the Dark Lord remarked. "They will not be able convince anyone of my return as long as I do not wish to reveal myself and so the old man and his little Order will run around in circles and walk to their own destruction soon enough. I do not need to lift a single finger."

Naenia had told them about the Order and what they were trying to do. Dumbledore had not told her and did not seem willing to include either Naenia or Harry, but Naenia had her ways of getting her hands on such delicate information. Essentially, the Order was trying to convince people of the Dark Lord's return and to recruit them and thwart his plans. And they were failing.

"The Ministry is doing a marvellous job already, isn't it?" Naenia said, highly amused. "And as long as you, yourself, keep lying low and do not take any drastic actions, the general public will be inclined to believe the Ministry and the Daily Prophet."

"Indeed," the Dark Lord said in a pleased sort of tone. "Their ignorance continues to astonish me, but what can one expect of the less gifted? They will never be able to match my power and my brilliancy. They will continue to live their boring, mediocre lives and then die without having accomplished anything, weak and pathetic, not realising the true worth of their own magic."

"Well," Naenia said matter-of-factly, "most witches and wizards can easily be incapacitated by a well-thrown knife, no magic necessary."

"Or killed," Lynea added without a thought and then blinked at the sudden change of topic.

Naenia inclined her head. "Or killed. Like so."

There was a swish and suddenly a knife had embedded itself into the wall, right next to the Dark Lord's head. Naenia withdrew her hand and the knife returned to her. The wall repaired itself not a moment after, as if nothing had happened.

Lynea suddenly realised that, maybe, despite her cheerful attitude during the entire conversation so far, her grand-aunt was actually rather upset with the Dark Lord. Or both – amused and angry.

"I see that you have picked up a new hobby," the Dark Lord commented tonelessly.

Naenia smiled brightly. "I was bored for a while in the 80s." She brought up her hands and clapped once. "Well, as lovely as this has been, I believe you are beginning to overstay your welcome. Let us move on, shall we?"

Naenia reached into her cleavage and retrieved a familiar looking locket that made the Dark Lord freeze in place.

"Lovely story," Naenia said. "Little Orion's youngest apparently lost his life to retrieve this fascinating piece of questionable jewellery."

Kreacher, now faithful and diligent house-elf to Harry, had told Naenia the story about the Locket and his master. Lynea did not know the story, only that Regulus Black had died while retrieving the thing and Kreacher now loathed Naenia for 'stealing Master Regulus's Locket'.

"Regulus?" the Dark Lord said in surprise.

A grin spread across Naenia's face and she held out her hand to let the Locket fall into the Dark Lord's outstretched hand. The moment it left her hand, Lynea felt the foul magic crawling and creeping and oozing out of the vile thing. It was bearable – if only just – because she was not touching the thing and it was not as strong as the Diary had been. Lynea did not know what they were, but the objects were both made of the same corrupted magic and they both, it seemed, belonged to the Dark Lord. Naenia still had the Diary.

"I was sure my protections were impenetrable," the Dark Lord murmured. "But it seems having the potion merely incapacitate the drinker and letting the Inferi finish the job is not sufficient."

"I am surprised you didn't use poison from the start," Naenia said.

"I wanted to see for myself who would dare to try, to ask them how they knew."

Naenia raised an eyebrow. "You never noticed someone had stolen your precious Locket."

The Dark Lord did not reply to that.

Lynea silently agreed with her grand-aunt. She did not know the specifics of whatever protections the Locket had been put under – apart from some potion and several Inferi, apparently – but the mere fact that it was not there anymore, hadn't been there for years, and the Dark Lord had never noticed, spoke for itself.

"I designed that potion to incapacitate the drinker based on emotions, to cripple their magic," the Dark Lord said, seemingly speaking to himself rather than Naenia. "The wards hinder anyone from apparating, not that they could have after drinking the potion, and the Inferi prevent them from leaving the island …" he trailed off, gazing at his Locket thoughtfully.

"Just make it actually deadly," Naenia said into the silence. "It's not like you will ever want to retrieve it – or you could just take someone with you and have them drink the poison, it's really not that complicated."

"Thank you for the tea," the Dark Lord said.

Lynea looked at the three cups of tea – two still full of untouched cold tea – and wondered what her life had come to.


AN

Art for Voldemort & Naenia's reunion:
something-rotten tumblr com/post/668853734551552000/naenia-and-the-dark-lord-from-chapter-1-of-a-touch