Chapter 3: Lucky Number Seven
Lord Voldemort, formerly known as Tom Riddle, sat in his usual chair at the head of the Malfoys' dining room table listening to the reports of his Death Eaters or "bumbling imbeciles" as Voldemort liked to refer to them in his head. They weren't saying anything interesting, just the usual Muggle or Mudblood slaying or goings-on at the Ministry, so Voldemort decided to tune them out while absent-mindedly stroking Nagini's scales with one of his long, white spidery fingers.
Why hadn't the fools caught Potter or at least one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix yet? 'Because they are all incompetent imbeciles who probably could not tell one end of a broomstick from the other. Except for Severus, of course,' Voldemort answered his own unspoken question in his mind.
Yes, Severus Snape was his most loyal and most trusted Death Eater. Voldemort had entrusted in him tasks that not even Bella would be allowed to do. Bella had failed him too many times for her to be his most trusted Death Eater, even though her loyalty was unwavering. Severus, on the other hand, was the more competent of the two, although his loyalty has been called into question a number of times, but he had also proven his loyalty numerous times, as well.
Lucius Malfoy, like Bella, possessed unwavering loyalty to him, but had made too many mistakes in the past for Voldemort to trust him completely. However, Voldemort trusted Lucius enough to have Malfoy Manor be the Death Eater headquarters for the last few months. True, he didn't think that Lucius liked it very much, but he was Lord Voldemort so it didn't matter if Lucius wasn't in favor of the idea.
About a month ago, Voldemort had ordered Severus to retrieve his old school diary from Dumbledore's former office. Of course, Severus didn't know that it was Voldemort's diary and that it used to be a Horcrux. He also didn't know that Voldemort was planning to make it into a Horcrux again. But first, Voldemort would have to repair it before it could be of any use to him. When Severus handed Voldemort the diary, Voldemort did just that by using a few complicated potions and spells, one of which sucked the basilisk venom right out. Using a complex Dark Arts ritual and spell, Voldemort then split his soul yet again, and placed the soul fragment in the newly restored diary.
That night, he had traveled to Little Hangleton, a place that he thought that he would never visit again, and went to the Riddle House. Once there, he searched for the perfect spot to hide his new Horcrux, and after a half hour of searching, he had found the ideal place: an old bureau with a secret compartment. It was just too perfect! Voldemort placed the diary and an ornate silver key of great value to him inside of it, and charmed it so that it would only pop open if either someone spoke Parseltongue to it or if they made a blood payment. After that, he went outside and placed a Death Ward around the rickety mansion, and Apparated back to Malfoy Manor. Suddenly he was taken out of his reverie by a voice nervously saying, "My Lord?"
Voldemort searched around the room for the speaker who dared disrupt his thought processes with his crimson eyes, and they fell upon Yaxley. "Yes, Yaxley?" Voldemort hissed dangerously, as he ceased petting Nagini and folded his pale hands on the mahogany tabletop.
"I just asked you whether or not you would like Augusta Longbottom to be watched, my Lord," Yaxley replied.
"Yes, I would. Anyone who has ever had contact with either Potter or the Order needs to be watched like a hawk. However, since that method does not seem to be working as well as I had expected, I have devised a new way with which we can capture Potter and his friends," Voldemort said, and he looked around the table to see if everyone was listening intently before continuing.
"My name —my real name— is to have a Taboo placed on it. Anyone who seriously opposes me (Potter, for example) will be found out due to his or her own stupidity for saying my name," he said, grinning an awful, evil grin.
"That is brilliant, my Lord!" Bellatrix Lestrange exclaimed.
"Why thank you, Bella. That is such a compliment coming from you, whose own brilliance has clearly dwindled if you cannot even retrieve a tiny glass sphere from six teenagers," Voldemort remarked cruelly.
Bellatrix, whose face had been previously flushed with pleasure at being thanked by the Dark Lord, seemed speechless, and her face was now flushed with both anger and embarrassment.
"M—My Lord, that wasn't completely my fault. If Lucius hadn't—," Bellatrix stuttered when she had found the words.
"It matters not!" Voldemort screeched, interrupting Bellatrix and making everyone else in the room jump from the sudden outburst. Voldemort was starting to lose his temper, and he would lose it completely if he had to hear one more of his moronic Death Eaters' sniveling excuses. Everyone else in the room knew very well to tread carefully when the Dark Lord started to lose his temper, and they were all very afraid that they were going to be his next target.
"I—I am sorry, my Lord," Bellatrix whimpered, staring into Voldemort's snake-like face.
Voldemort ignored the apology and forced himself to calm down a little. It would do no good to give his Death Eaters a taste of the Cruciatus Curse when he still had business to discuss with them, however entertaining and satisfying it might be.
"Yaxley, tomorrow you will order Thicknesse to have a Taboo placed on my name. If, for any reason, you fail to have Thicknesse do this within a week's time you shall be punished. Severely, I might add," Voldemort ordered. All of the Death Eaters shuddered at the implications of the last two sentences, some visibly and others not so visibly.
"Of course, my Lord. It shall be done," Yaxley said.
"However, the existence of this new plan does not necessarily mean that I do not want people associated with Harry Potter or the Order to be watched or followed. Dolohov, I want you to trail Augusta Longbottom."
"Yes, my Lord," answered Dolohov.
Voldemort then turned to the man to his immediate right. "You are to keep track of all of the teachers at Hogwarts. That should not be too difficult as you are now the Headmaster, Severus," Voldemort said.
"My Lord, it shall be done," said Severus Snape, giving an awkward but respectful nod of his head.
"Everyone else that I have not given a specific task to do will be assigned a location that Potter or his friends might be hiding out in and will watch the area," Voldemort commanded. There was a chorus of "Yes, my Lord," and Voldemort looked at all of his Death Eaters, and said, "If you fail me, I will not be pleased. This meeting is adjourned."
With that, all of the Death Eaters left the room, respectfully, of course, leaving Voldemort alone in the Malfoys' dining room. Once alone, Voldemort muttered to himself, "I am surrounded by idiots."
Fading Ink by Wicked Sapphira
Chapter Notes: Author's Note: Thanks to all of the reviewers and also to all of the readers who have chosen to remain silent. Your support is greatly appreciated even if you have never reviewed this story. Anyway, this chapter is just a filler chapter, so nothing important happens, but there is some background information. In this chapter, we are going to catch up with our favorite villain. Well, enjoy!
Chapter Endnotes: Author's Note: I hope that this chapter wasn't too boring, although I know that it's way too short, or at least compared to the other two chapters it is. So, what do you think that the "key of great value" to Voldemort unlocks? Not that I am going to tell you, but I would love to hear your ideas. Oh, and if you didn't get it, the chapter title is named because this chapter describes how he made his seventh intentional Horcrux (Harry is not included because Voldemort doesn't know about him being a Horcrux and what happened with Harry was unintentional).