Authors' notes:
Trigger warnings: this will be the last trigger warnings. Extreme gore, violence, main character death, horror.
You have been warned.
Hello, tis ForsoothandConquest! Welcome back to another upload of our wondrous tales! We are here with chapter toe!
Two.
Ah yes, too.
No, two.
That's what I said.
No, you said to.
No, I said too.
It's TWO!
That's what I said, now, the horror is only going to get worse from here on out ladies and gents.
Also, a cookie to ANYONE who can figure out the ending before it is released.
Unless your name is Olivia. You don't get cookies. You know what you did.
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"Enter the barrier, Dolohov," Voldemort ordered.
"Yes, my Lord," Antonin said, hopping into the barrier.
He cursed internally. Oh, how he wished he didn't need to do this. Something was wrong here, he could feel it. But, one does not disobey the Dark Lord. Came the bitter thought.
Voldemort paused, searching Dolohov for any signs of injury, curse, or enchantment. His eyes flickered to the castle, noting how it remained quiet and still.
The ward doesn't detect people entering it or it doesn't alert the enchanter, Rookwood realized. The Dark Lord must have been testing for that!
"Rookwood," Voldemort ordered. "Enter the barrier."
Having seen nothing happen to his fellow Death Eater, Augustus walked past the crimson wall without hesitation.
That's got to be worth some brownie points, Rookwood thought smugly.
Once he was on the other side, he paused, frowning.
"My Lord," he said. "The breeze doesn't travel through the barrier. It blocks airflow."
Voldemort studied the enchantment a moment longer.
"Maybe they used the wrong ward," Dolohov suggested.
Their master stalked through the ward, and onto Hogwart's grounds confidently.
"Rookwood. Dolohov. With me," he commanded.
They made their way up the hill toward the castle.
As the trio moved, Dolohov decided to ask his master something.
"My Lord, why are there only three of us going into the castle? Surely we must be more careful."
Rookwood shot a glare at Antonin, you idiot! He thought. Don't question him!
Voldemort stopped and turned slowly to face his servant.
"You each have a job to do inside of Hogwarts," hissed the Dark Lord softly, his giant snake floating around him at waist height. "But I suppose you are too weak and cowardly to assume these duties yourself."
Turning fully around, Lord Voldemort commanded six more Death Eaters to join them. When Malfoy attempted to do the same, he sent the simpering fool back into the ranks.
"Our dear Dolohov is having trouble keeping his feet warm, so you shall accompany him and ensure he accomplishes the task I set before him."
The half dozen Death Eaters were nameless to Voldemort, they were hardly important enough for him to recall their names. And if he needed something from them he would simply tear it from their minds.
Sneering at his lessers, the Dark Lord marched his men up to the entrance of the castle.
As his men started unlocking the massive oak doors, Voldemort spoke.
"Rookwood, you shall go to the Headmaster's office."
A click announced the opening of Hogwart's grand doors.
Voldemort opened his mouth to continue speaking.
"You, DoloHHORKGH!" Voldemort gagged at the smell that rushed out of the castle doors.
Four of his men collapsed to their knees from the ungodly stench.
The Dark Lord had been around the dead before, he had an army of inferi during the first war, but they did not rot. Even then, rotting flesh did not compare to the overwhelming stink that assaulted their olfactory organs.
Not wanting to spend another second under the influence of such a smell, Voldemort threw up a bubblehead charm for himself. Another second later and his men followed suit.
The Dark Wizards took a cursory look around the immediate entrance.
The hall was covered in blood and corpses.
A Death Eater knelt next to one and raised the head to look at it.
"This one's bleeding from the eyes and nose…ears and mouth as well."
Another one took a closer look at the rest of the differently-sized bodies.
"It's the same for all of them," he confirmed.
Voldemort was displeased and stayed clear of touching any of the bodies. A bouncing curse? If I touch one will the curse latch onto a new host? If so, who cast it? Severus? One of the Carrows? No, definitely not them, they are not nearly as intelligent enough.
"They died around the same time," the Death Eater concluded. "Rigor Mortis hasn't set in and the bodies appear to be literally falling apart, I think their insides are liquefying."
He said this in an almost detached manner. Voldemort considered using him for higher purposes maybe even adding him to the inner circle, his perception was exceptional for someone who wasn't Lord Voldemort.
A bouncing curse would have taken longer unless it was an exceptionally fast one. But no, Severus died much longer ago than this happened. It can't be a bouncing curse. He decided.
"Rookwood," Voldemort barked. "You come with me. The rest of you go to the Headmaster's office and see what you can find."
His men scrambled to obey his command, separating in seconds with Dolohov at their head. Rookwood stepped to Voldemort's side and nodded. He followed his master as he picked his way through the castle, avoiding bodies like the plague.
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The stillness was awkward and unnerving for Dolohov and the others.
There was no noise in the usually loud castle. Portraits were empty, many splattered with blood, and not even ghosts disturbed the quiet.
This far in, bodies became less common, and more scattered, supporting the theory that they had been trying to escape but failed when they reached the locked doors.
They were waiting for a moving staircase to reach their position when someone spoke.
"So, uh, how's the kids?" Dolohov asked his fellows nervously.
Something about the entire scene put him on edge. Maybe it was the abundant corpses with a mysterious cause of death.
"Somewhere in here," one of them replied, coughing into his hand.
The sound echoed down the space between staircases and came back at them reverberated.
"I don't like this place," Dolohov said, as the staircase finally stopped at their ledge.
They moved up it quickly and when they reached the top, a shuffling sound alerted them to another presence.
The group whipped out their wands and pointed them at the noise.
Halfway down the hall, someone was murmuring and doing something on the floor.
Dolohov approached slowly and created a light to see by.
"Stand down," he sneered. "It's just the squib."
Now, the seven wizards saw Argus Filch on his knees leaning over the floor with his bucket and rag, scrubbing something as he mumbled.
"What are you saying, old man?" Dolohov whispered.
Getting closer, he could start to make out individual words.
"Wipe the tears from off the floor," he was saying in a sing-song voice. Make sure the red don't stain no more."
He repeated the verses nonstop, taking shallow breaths in between them.
Dolohov stopped a few feet away and he could see what the squib had been cleaning.
Dripping from somewhere on his face covered behind his mop of hair, blood was pooling on the stone tiles, and Filch was wiping it away with his rag and squeezing it out into the bucket.
Abruptly, he looked up and Dolohov stumbled back in shock. Bleeding heavily from every orifice, Filch stared up at the Death Eater senselessly.
They stared at each other for a moment and then Filch vomited blood onto Dolohov's robes.
"ARGH!" he screamed, jumping away from the disgusting event.
Filch began to hyperventilate, and his arms started to shake. After a moment, he collapsed entirely onto his pool of blood. He gasped heavily, choking and coughing before falling still.
"Scourgify," Dolohov whimpered, cleaning himself of blood.
One of the others cast a Revelio charm and came up with nothing.
"He's just dead," the man muttered. "Is this some sort of sickness?"
Dolohov shook his head. "We can cure any muggle illness and there is no magical sickness that kills like this. This is something different."
Accepting his answer, the Death Eaters waited for their leader to collect himself.
Turning to one at random, Dolohov ordered his compatriot. "Find the Dark Lord and inform him of what just happened."
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Author's notes:
Conquest: Filch is a main character.
Forsooth: no, he's not.
Conquest: yes, he is!
Forsooth: no, he's not!
Conquest: he's in ALL of the books!
Forsooth: so is everyone else!
Conquest: not Dobby! Not Sirius! Not Dumbledore!
Sirius: what did you just say?
Forsooth: oh, spoilers for the books.
Sirius: …say that again?
Conquest: next chapter will be uploaded in a week, sooner if we feel like it. But not later.
Forsooth: …probably.
