The Dark Lord's Pet Princess

66. Death At Dinner

Voldemort was very happy when he heard about Dumbledore's death, he wasn't even that bothered that Severus had killed him instead of Draco.
To reward Draco for sneaking his death eaters into the castle, Voldemort broke Lucius and the other captive death eaters out of Azkaban.
Once he had done that, he summoned all of his death eaters to Malfoy manor, for a meeting.
Normally Voldemort didn't like to have all of his followers in one room, especially without their masks on. But as his grip over the world intensified, he relaxed some of his old rules.

During the meeting Larissa sat on Voldemort's left side, while the rest of her family sat further down the table.
For the first time, Narcissa was invited to attend the meeting, even though she was not officially a death eater. Which Larissa assumed was because the meeting was taking place in her house.
Peter Pettigrew was also present at the meeting, even if he was sat as far away from Voldemort as possible.
But he wasn't the only guest.
A young woman named Charity Burbage hung above the table, and Larissa could see that Draco couldn't help but look up at the woman every couple of minutes.

"Yaxley, Snape, you are very nearly late" admitted Voldemort, as the last two death eaters entered the room and took their assigned seats.
Severus came and sat on Voldemort's right hand side opposite Larissa.
"I assume you have news" continued Voldemort.
"Yes, my lord. The Order of the Phoenix intends to move Harry Potter next Saturday at nightfall" revealed Severus.
Although Larissa knew that Severus had killed Dumbledore to protect Draco, because that's what Dumbledore had wanted, the rest of the Order now viewed him as a traitor.
They had not yet turned their backs on her, but they didn't trust her quite as much any more, as she didn't have Dumbledore's backing.

"Where will the boy be moved to?" Asked Voldemort.
"He will be taken to the home of someone in the Order. Once there, it will be almost impossible to get to him, unless of course the Ministry has fallen by then" answered Severus.
Voldemort turned to look at Yaxley, "Well? Will the Ministry have fallen by then?".
"My lord, I have successfully placed the Imperius Curse on Pius Thicknesse, but he is only one man" revealed Yaxley.
"Well, that's a start. But Scrimgeour must be completely surrounded by our people before I act, as a failed attempt on his life would set us back a long way. So it seems unlikely we will have taken the Ministry by next Saturday" admitted Voldemort.

"If Potter apparates or uses the floo network we will know immediately" announced Yaxley.
"Then he's unlikely to use either of those, because the people responsible for him are not idiots" mumbled Larissa.
"She's right. The Order will be moving Harry using transport not controlled by the Ministry" agreed Severus.
"That's good. He will have to move out in the open, and it will be easy to get to him. I shall attend to the boy in person. There have been far too many mistakes where Harry Potter is concerned. I must be the one to kill the boy" informed Voldemort.

Suddenly a blood curdling scream cried out from below their feet.
Larissa knew the voice must belong to one of the many prisoners being held in the Malfoy's basement.
"Wormtail! Have I not spoken to you about keeping our guest quiet!" Snapped Voldemort.
"Yes, my lord" trembled Peter, before feeling from the room and heading downstairs.
"As I was saying, I must be the one to kill Harry Potter. Unfortunately my wand core and his, share a feather from the same Phoenix, so I must use another's wand to kill the boy" continued Voldemort.

Everyone around the table looked away from Voldemort, hoping that he wouldn't take their wand.
Larissa knew her's was safe, so she wasn't too bothered.
Voldemort stood to his feet, and began to make his way down the table.
"No volunteers? Let's see... Lucius, I see no reason for you to have a wand anymore" announced Voldemort, as he stopped beside Lucius.
"My lord?" Mumbled Lucius.
"I require your wand" replied Voldemort as he stetched out his hand.

With no choice but to obey, Lucius handed over his wand.
"Why do the Malfoy's look so unhappy with their lot? Is my return not the thing they desire most?" Questioned Voldemort as he began to walk around the room.
"It is" replied Lucius not very convincingly.
"My lord, it is an honor to have you here in our house. There can be no higher pleasure" insisted Bellatrix as she leant closer to Voldemort.

"No higher pleasure. That means a lot coming from you, Bella" said Voldemort.
"My lord knows I speak nothing but the truth" replied Bellatrix excitedly.
"Oh get a grip of yourself. You're acting like a teenager with a crush on the dark lord" mocked Larissa.
Voldemort smiled as Larissa glared at Bellatrix, since it turned him on to see her getting angry.
"Calm down, my love. Bella is allowed to be excited by my presence... Besides, I know of another happy event in your life Bella. Your niece has just married the werewolf Remus Lupin, you must be so proud" teased Voldemort.

Everyone in the room began to laugh at the Malfoy's and the Black's expense.
"She is no niece of ours. Me and Narcissa have never set eyes on her. And we haven't seen our sister since she married the Mudblood" insisted Bellatrix.
Larissa looked away awkwardly, as unbeknownst to everyone, she had secretly been seeing Andromeda and Ted for months. She had even attended Nymphadora's wedding to Remus, in secret.
"Even some of our oldest family trees become diseased over time. You must prune yours to keep it healthy" instructed Voldemort.
"Yes, my lord. At first chance" replied Bellatrix.

"Good... Now, for those of you who don't know, we are joined tonight by Miss Charity Burbage, who until recently taught Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. She taught about how Muggles are not so different from us. And she wrote an impassioned defense of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. If given her way, she would have us all mate with Muggles" informed Voldemort, who could not hide the anger in his voice.
Larissa cast her eyes up at the poor woman, and she felt a lump in her throat.
"Severus, please help me" begged Charity as she looked over at Severus while tears streamed down her face.

Severus made no attempt to help his colleague, and kept his face hard and unreadable.
"Avada Kedavra!" Shouted Voldemort, using Lucius's wand to kill Charity.
The woman's body dropped so suddenly onto the table, that several death eaters leapt out of their chairs.
Draco completely fell out of his and landed on the floor.
Although Larissa did flinch when the woman was killed, she did not react as much as everyone else.
Over the years, Larissa had watched Voldemort perform terrible acts, and she was used to seeing people die at his hand.
She just hoped that she wouldn't have to see too many more die before Voldemort's last Horcrux was destroyed, and he was killed for good.