The Allure of Darkness

Easy

Malfoy Manor [October 2nd]

"Notification of your updated ranking within the Dark Lord's circle will be provided to you within the next week," Lucius Malfoy said as he barely glanced up from the roll of parchment in front of him.

"Wait-Malfoy–you can't do this– "the Death Eater standing in the middle of the atrium began to protest, "I've been a loyal supporter of our Lord for twenty years!"

"Thank you for your time," Lucius spoke dryly. He waved his hand in a shooing motion, "Please allow the guards to escort you outside."

"Lucius, I've lead raids and spent years in Azkaban for Him! You can't do this to me– "the man continued to shout, even as the guards on either side of him began to tug his arms, roughly hauling him out of the hall.

Lucius sighed, tuning out the man's desperate pleas as he marked a clear 'X' across the parchment in front of him.

Hadrian had left him in charge of vetting the older members of the guard and it had been a grueling task. At first, he had been rather annoyed the brat had left him with a pile of paperwork in the middle of their transition to power, but as he evaluated more and more members of the cause, he couldn't help but admire the boy's foresight.

Though he admired the previous dark lord, oftentimes he himself even questioned the choice of recruits every year.

He had thought their side stood a strong chance of winning in the upcoming war, but as he flipped through the steadily growing stack of members they were cutting loose, he couldn't help but be concerned.

Hadrian had been correct in his assumption that there would be problems with the older members of their cause. They were too blood-thirsty and chaotic and too focused on causing mass destruction and spreading fear. A fair amount of them had also spent time in Azkaban, leaving their sanity in a deteriorated state.

The few that seemed sane on the outside were fiercely loyal to the dark lord and refused to even consider a situation where they would have to follow someone else. Their loyalty was tied to the Dark Lord, and he knew they would be unwilling to support the underlying changes within their movement. He almost snorted at the thought of someone as deeply rooted in blood purity as Yaxley trying to support muggleborns.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why does your pile of rejects increase with every second I turn my back?"

Lucius inclined his head slightly in lieu of a proper greeting as Bellatrix sauntered into the room, her heels clicking against the floor in a manner he could only describe as obnoxious.

"Hello to you to, sister-in-law," He muttered under his breath. As much as he hated to admit it, Bellatrix had made herself extremely useful these past few months, putting her support fully behind Hadrian and surprisingly keeping herself out of trouble–for the most part. He supposed her good behavior could partially be attributed to her thirst for blood being satisfied as of late.

In yet another grudgingly brilliant move, Hadrian had insisted that while Lucius be the one to judge and evaluate their entire guard, his "Aunt Bella" would be the one to take care of all the dismissals, so to speak. Each time Lucius added another old guard into the pile of rejects, he couldn't help but shudder at their fate. He knew from firsthand experience how death could often be more merciful than whatever Bellatrix Lestrange had planned.

He tried to not think about how Bellatrix was dealing with the large number of guards he had dismissed. Some of them had been his good friends, people he could still remember skiving class with back in Hogwarts and sipping firewhisky with. It was with great reluctance he made the call to dispose of them. He knew it was necessary for their side to be stronger than ever.