I grimaced. This Draco thing was escalating far too quickly to be dealt with rationally. Draco looked small and pale compared the problem in front of us.
“So what am I supposed to do?” he asked miserably. “I mean, I’ll probably kill Dumbledore in the end, but I’d rather do it on my own terms.”
“I don’t know why you’re bringing your problems to me,” I snapped, annoyed. What you’ve agreed to do is not my responsibility.”
“But you made that Unbreakable Vow!” Draco protested. “You’re supposed to be my advisor! I need help; I don’t know what I’m doing!” He sighed, helplessly. “And I still haven’t gotten Pansy to leave me alone.”
I worked hard to force my grin into a smirk. “Well, Mr. Malfoy,” I began. “I would recommend telling the truth to Miss Parkinson…”
“I don’t want to get near her!” Draco protested.
“In that case, a nice hex would be appropriate, wouldn’t it?” I suggested, smirking slyly. “A Langlock ought to do it.”
“What’s Langlock?” Draco asked, curiously. I pulled out my wand.
“I can show you.” He jerked up and scrambled out of his chair.
“NO! No thanks.”
“Anyway, that’s a minor problem compared to Voldemort.” I said, putting my wand back in my pocket. “We need to deal with him first.”
“We could go to Violet’s,” Draco suggested. Sitting back down, he added, “I bet she knows a lot of information we could use against him.”
“Draco, this isn’t some girl you can make cry by bringing up their dark and dirty past,” I warned him. “This is a Dark Lord who killed many, many people and has no problem adding you and me to the statistics.”
“We should still go talk to Violet,” he insisted. “She’ll be able to help us.”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “Let me change and we’ll Apparate.”
“Why do you…oh,” Draco, grinned, in understanding. I glared at him. I didn’t like to be reminded of the fact that Violet was in charge of my wardrobe. She had excellent taste, but it was the principle of the thing. A woman was in charge of my appearance; that was just wrong.
“Mr. Malfoy, if you have any dwindling hope of surviving the next two weeks, I would recommend for you to keep on my good side. And by the way, your essay was simply unacceptable.” Draco bowed theatrically as I got up and walked to the door of my office.
“My humble apologies for the stress my actions have placed upon you, I beg for forgiveness.”
“If it wouldn’t cause my immediate death by at least three extremely powerful people, I would kill you where you stand,” I growled and slammed the door in his face.
Ten mintues later, we were standing where this whole mess had started, in the waiting room of my private hell. Even those te place was fairly crowded, Violet rushed to meet us. Of course, Violet drops everything to help her “Project,” and of course, she’ll tell us everything we need to defeat Lord Voldemort. So much for customer privacy.
“So what do you need to know?” Violet asked Draco as she led us to an empty room. How many rooms does Violet’s shop have, anyway? It seemed like we were always in a different one everytime. Draco shrugged and looked around in case he saw Voldemort or something. I doubt that our Dark Lord woud spend anymore time than necessary in this cheerful place.
“We need to know about Horcruxes,” Draco said once we were in the safety of a quiet room. “Voldemort has seven and we need to….” Violet frowned at him.
“Tom made seven of those nasty things?” she asked sitting down in a chair. We followed her example. “Are you sure?”
“Well, that’s how many Dumbledore said were made,” I replied. “Why, are there more?” She shook her head.
“That’s too many,” she said. “He only made three.”
“Three?” I repeated in disbelief. After all this time, Dumbledore was wrong? Incredible.
“Three. I told Tom that if he made any more, they’d distort his features. They’re bad for the complexion, too.”
“What about that locket?” I asked. “Dumbledore was sure Voldemort created a Horcrux out of it.”
“That was the first one he tried,” Violet said. “He screwed up the spell somehow and it didn’t take. The only real Horcruxes are that diary of his, the ring, and Rowena’s tombstone.”
“What?” I almost shouted. That meant our job was over half done. “Did you say tombstone?” I asked, in a lower voice. She nodded.
“Of course, why do you think you have all the Death Eater meetings in the graveyard? He’s making sure that Horcrux is safe.”
“He hasn’t made anymore?” Draco asked.
“No, why bother? People won’t come after him until they think he’s mortal again. They’ll search forever and never find the last three because there are no more.”
“Why the tombstone?” I questioned.
“Rowena was paranoid about her possessions,” Violet explained. “Just before her death she had all her possessions burned or destroyed. And using anything of Godric’s would be disgusting for a true Slytherin.”
“So all we have to do is go to the graveyard, crumble a tombstone, and he’s vulnerable?” I asked in disbelief. This seemed too easy after all the years of spying and tiptoeing and reporting all sorts of nasty rumours. It didn't seem like him. But of course, if Violet had insisted, he probably didn't stand a chance.
“It’s a big tombstone,” Violet said, spreading her arms wide for emphasis. “More like a monument. It’s Rowena Ravenclaw we’re talking about. She’s important.”
“Is she buried there?” Draco asked, curious. Violet shrugged.
“I don’t know; she died in the eleventh century. It’s a little before my time. But enough about that.” She reached into her desk and pulled out a pad of paper. “We’ve got to get you ready for your takeover.”
“Takeover?” Draco wailed. “I haven’t killed Voldemort yet!”
“That’s the easy part,” Violet said. “You’ve got to manage to keep those Death Eaters from stabbing you in the back. You’ve got to make service attractive.”
“Nicer meetings,” I said. “With more atmosphere.”
“And better benefits,” Violet put in. “Honestly, I’m surprised anyone would go with Tom. It’s worse being a Death Eater that not being one.” We both looked at her.
“It has life insurance,” I said dryly. “That’s important to me.”
“But that’s not even guaranteed,” Violet protested.
“They pay for your funeral,” I objected.
“If they find any body to have a funeral with. It’s probably been brutally dismembered, ripped to shreds, burn to ash, exploded, or that one time when he turned that…” Violet looked over at Draco.
“Is he too young for that story, Sunshine?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Anyway, Tom has absolutely no concept of MO,” Violet said.
“What’s MO?” Draco asked, confused.
“Modus operandi.”
“And what’s that?” Draco asked, still peeved about being called young. “I don’t speak foreign.”
“It’s Latin. What do they teach kids these days?” Violet asked, to nobody in particular.
“Oh, you know, Potions, Defence of Dark Arts, basically nothing useful,” I replied.
“Never mind. Back on topic.”
“So, where should we have Death Eater meetings?” Draco asked. Violet shook her head. Honestly, I sometimes wondered if she was really taking over Voldemort and we were both just pawns. It felt like it sometimes.
“The first thing that has to go is the ‘Death Eater,’ it’s so last year.” Draco opened his mouth to protest but was cut off. “It’s okay for now, but both of you are going to have to work on that name. That’s homework.”
Great, I’m being assigned homework by a… what do you call Violet? A fashionista? A psychotic megalomaniac? Both?
“Now, the meetings. Sunshine, do you know of any places that would be good for this?” Violet asked. I thought for a moment.
“Not at the moment, it’s I don’t think about all the time,” I said.
“How long do we have until your next Death Eater meeting?” Violet asked. I shrugged.
“I don’t know, we aren’t usually informed about these things until the day it happens,” I explained. Violet frowned.
“Honey Bun, you will definitely need to bring your followers under some semblance of order. Uncertainty leaves room for doubt. Doubt leads to dissension, and dissension will get you overthrown.” She smiled, encouragingly. You two are going to do marvelously. Just come up with that name and where you’re going to meet, and the next time you have a Death Eater meeting…” She drew a manicured nail over her throat. The action itself wasn’t as scary as the fact that Draco was the one going to be doing this killing.
Becoming a Dark Lord by FinalCow
Chapter Notes: Sorry this was so long in coming, I'll post quicker I promise!
Thanks a ton to our Beta, cto10121!