The Eagle and The Snake: A Tragic Love Story

68. Change In Assignments

Voldemort did indeed want the girls to return to the manor, during the Easter holidays. And he made his reasoning for this quite clear, on the girls first day back, when he summoned them to the study.
Once they had bowed to him, he gestured for them to take a seat on the green sofa in front of him.
Since their meetings with him in the past had never been that relaxed, being invited to sit down by him, made them rather anxious about what was to come.
"I trust you had another good term at Hogwarts?" Asked Voldemort.
"Yes, my lord" answered Carly.

"Good. I'm glad to hear that there were no more nasty incidents involving you and your classmates. Severus has kept me updated on you both, and he reassures me regularly, that no one has any suspicions that you are death eaters" informed Voldemort.
"That is good to know" replied Carly.
"It is... I trust you are both ready to take your OWLs next term?" Questioned Voldemort.
"As ready as we can be, my lord" Luna answered.

"I expect nothing but the best, from two bright young death eaters such as yourselves. However, despite this important time in your lives, I do have a mission for you, which may distract you from your studies. A mission that is vital to our cause" revealed Voldemort.
"We will gladly put aside all revision to do whatever task you have planned for us, my lord" insisted Carly.
"That is good to hear... I originally gave this mission to young Draco Malfoy, so that you would be able to focus on your school work, as he has already taken his OWLs, which means he does not need to study like you two do. But since he has failed me, I need you both to assist him with his mission" instructed Voldemort.

"You're giving us Draco's mission?" Gasped Luna.
"In a way, yes. It would be best if you worked on it together, instead of taking it completely away from him, since he has been working on this mission all year, and it would be a waste to not use the knowledge he has already collected" answered Voldemort.
"What exactly is Draco's mission?" Questioned Carly.
"Draco had two missions, given to him by me. The first, is to get my death eaters into the castle. He claims he has a way to do this, by using a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, one of which is in Borgin and Burkes, and the other is in Hogwarts. Together, they form a passageway, allowing a person to walk from one, to the other. However, the one at Hogwarts is broken, and he has been trying to fix it all year, to no avail" informed Voldemort.

"I guess that explains why we never see much of Draco at school, and why he always looks so peaky" mumbled Luna.
"Yes, he's off trying to fix this cabinet, wherever it is" replied Carly.
"Draco claimed he could fix this cabinet easily, yet he has been unable to do so, thus far. Which is why I need you to assist him" said Voldemort.
"We will, my lord" promised Carly.
"What was Draco's second task?" Asked Luna.
"I instructed him to kill Albus Dumbledore" announced Voldemort.

Luna and Carly couldn't stop their jaws from dropping open.
"You want Draco to kill Professor Dumbledore?" Questioned Carly.
"Yes. I think it is time we removed that awful thorn from our sides, as the old fool is always getting in the way. And since I can't get into Hogwarts, due to the protective magic around the grounds, it makes sense to have someone on the inside kill Dumbledore for me. I gave the mission to Draco, so that he could prove himself to me, the way you have both done countless times. But so far, he has failed me" answered Voldemort.
"Has he even tried to kill Dumbledore yet?" Quizzed Carly.
"Severus informs me that he has".

"He has? How?" Asked Carly.
"Apparently he used the Imperius Curse on a classmate and tried to have her give Dumbledore a cursed necklace. This plan failed, and the girl ended up cursed instead" revealed Voldemort.
"Katie Bell" gasped Luna.
"I guess my brother was right then. Draco did have something to do with her ending up in St Mungo's" replied Carly.
"I find it strange that Harry is the only one who suspects that it was Draco" frowned Luna.
"If he suspects Draco, then I'm sure lots of other people do as well. They just haven't voiced their opinions like Harry has".

"Severus has put a lot of work in, to ensure that no one suspects Draco of any wrongdoing" informed Voldemort.
"That is good to know" replied Carly.
"This was not Draco's only attempt on Dumbledore's life. For he also poisoned a bottle of wine, which was intended to be given to Dumbledore as a gift" revealed Voldemort.
"Slughorn's poisoned wine, which nearly killed Ron. That was Draco's doing" mumbled Carly, as the pieces in her brain began to slot together.

"It was. I only know about these failed attempts, because Severus keeps me up to date with how Draco is doing. I know the boy has no more ideas for how to kill Dumbledore. Which is why I am handing this mission over to you. You have both killed people before, so this task should not be challenging for either of you. So, by the end of the school year, I expect you to have assisted my death eaters into the castle, and I want you to have killed Albus Dumbledore. If you fail, there will be heavy consequences. Is that understood?" Questioned Voldemort.
"Yes. My lord" the girls answered in unison, knowing there was no other response that they could make, if they wanted to live.

****

Once Voldemort had left, Luna and Carly headed upstairs and locked themselves in Carly's bedroom, to discuss their new mission.
"I can't believe that Draco has been struggling with this all year, by himself. All the guilt from hurting innocent people must have been eating away at him all year. That's why he looks so sad and ill all the time" Carly said quietly.
"And now the dark lord wants to do the same thing to us, and put us through the same guilt and pain as Draco" replied Luna.
"We don't have a choice. We agreed to do it. Either Dumbledore will be dead by the end of the year, or the three of us will be" sighed Carly.

"Well, we can't just go up to Dumbledore during dinner and murder him in front of everyone. We'd be caught, and sent straight to Azkaban. That's if they didn't kill us first" said Luna.
"I'm sure Dumbledore has protective magic around him, stopping any spells from hitting him, while he's at school. Which is why Draco has been trying to kill him using other methods that don't involve magic. If it were as easy as using the Killing Curse on him, Dumbledore would be dead already" replied Carly.

"I guess that's true... But I honestly don't know how I feel about killing Dumbledore. Murdering Fudge and Umbridge was one thing, because they deserved it. But Dumbledore is not evil. Sure, he's a pain, and I don't like him, but that doesn't mean I want to be the one to kill him. We can't deny that he has done some good things in his life. And killing him just doesn't feel right" admitted Luna.
"What we want or feel, doesn't matter. We have been given a mission by the dark lord, and we must complete it. That's all there is to it. Besides, Dumbledore is the enemy. He is on the opposite side to us, in this war, which means that at some point he must die" replied Carly.

"I get that, but what do we even know about how to kill someone secretly and discreetly? The murders we commited in the past, were very offensive, and our victims were unarmed. Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard ever. He defeated Gellert Grindelwald for Merlin's sake. Which is why our chances of killing him are very low. This task that the dark lord has set us, is impossible" groaned Luna.
"Nothing is impossible. And just think, with Dumbledore out of the way, the dark lord will be able to take over the wizarding world without anybody opposing him. With Dumbledore gone, our future can finally begin" smiled Carly.
Luna sighed, "And what a bright and brilliant future it is going to be".