The Prince of Darkness

Chapter 10

Two almost silent snails caught Voldemort's attention. He raised his eyes from the book, waving to the sleeping child next to him and pressed his index finger on his lips to silently order the elf twins to be quiet. The twins shook their heads and closed their mouths. Voldemort raised his eyebrow of non-existence in question. The elves raised their thumbs in a sure indication of the success of their mission. Voldemort nodded and dismissed them. Voldemort checked his son, making sure he was sleeping before waving to Nagini. Her loyal Maledictus waved back and slowly began to slide out of where she was wrapped around them, making sure his puppy didn't wake up. As soon as she was at a safe distance, Voldemort levitated a beautiful eagle feather and put it in front of her. Nagini pressed her nose on the feather and left with the portal key. So he closed his eyes. With the advanced practice of Occlumency, Voldemort searched for his link from the snake Horcrux. While actively searching for him, he noticed a very weak Horcrux link that he realized as his seventh Horcrux. The trace was so tiny that Voldemort would have easily lost it if he had not already known of his presence. It may be that if he had more than just a slide of his soul, he would have noticed. Voldemort smiled inwardly and made a mental note to explore this new link later. Now he should focus on Nagini and his mission. When he pressed sia magia on his link, he soon found himself in the body of a four-and-a-half-meter viper. Voldemort's smile was nostalgic and melancholic, missing his own heritage and especially for having his own body. He let the desire turn into his motivation and focussed on work. He looked at the Moon illuminated by Malfoy Mansion through Nagini's round eyes. He doesn't know whether to trust Lucius or not. The blonde is slippery. No one knows what he will do if he discovers the Dark Lord in this state of weakness. But he needed his diary back for the body recreation ritual. He could have used another Horcrux if he only wanted his body; but now he also has another goal. He needs to regain his sanity - at least until he can have the Soul Reinforcing Ritual done. The diary, being his first Horcrux, has sheltered half of his soul.

Voldemort tasted the air. With Nagini's skill and Voldemort's magic, his senses increased magnificently. He could easily detect the presence of three in private eatments. Even if he wandered freely through the Mansion, no one could detect his presence. Not with the strong dreamless potion that Lucius consumed without knowing it, thanks to the twin elves. And the Malfoy Domestic Elves were warned about Nagini, so they wouldn't get in the way of their plan. Voldemort let Nagini search the pipes of the Mansion to find the darkroom under the floor of the living room, where he knew that all the artifacts of Darkness along with his diary were hidden. For an ordinary Wizard, which would probably take a whole night or more to discover, the combined power of Nagini's smell and Voldemort's Magic and the knowledge of the whereabouts of the Malfoy Mansion reduced the trip by half an hour to the room. Voldemort watched Nagini regurgitate the piece of feather on the floor before taking the diary with his mouth and swallowing it. He returned to his own body as soon as Nagini pressed his nose on the pen, whispering " : Home: " Voldemort opened his eyes in time to see Nagini appear in the middle of the main room of Riddle Mansion. A quick glance told him that his son is still sleeping. He gently kept his hand on the Naga child's hair and let his fingers comb his soft hair while Nagini regurgitated his diary. ": The Things I eat for you :" Nagini hissed disgustedly, as she slid towards them. Voldemort cast multiple cleaning and drying spells in the diary before invoking it and examining it for any damage check. The diary warmed up under his touch, recognising his main part of the soul. Voldemort smiled, feeling nostalgic and remembering the time when he created him. Oh, good old days. When he used to have his own body and didn't appreciate it enough. Well, he will soon have his body again. " : Good job, Nagini ,: " Voldemort hissed softly, his eyes affectionate as he looked at the viper, " : Now let's rest while we wait for Barty to return .: "

"My Lord." Both Voldemort and Hadrianus raised their eyes from breakfast when Barty finally returned, his face shining with excitement when he sat next to his Little Prince, who smiled at him. Barty greeted Hadrianus with a similar huge smile, before turning to his Lord, showing him his new wand, "I did it." Voldemort's lips contracted with fun when he saw the Wizard stirring with repressed joy and sadistic desire. "What is it?" "Silver lime wood with unicorn hair core." Barty smiled, "At first I ordered the same as my old one, but I can feel that the silver lemon served me even more perfectly." "This is really good news." Voldemort nodded, satisfied and gave him permission so that Barty could go back to where he knew he wanted to go while he finished his own soup. With continuous nutrition and potions, he was healthy enough to take the soup alone. Barty presented him with a bottomless bag, took an apple and ran away, smiling widely in anticipation. Voldemort checked all the ingredients he ordered Barty to bring into the bottomless bag while waiting for his son to finish eating. He pulled a carefully packed package and looked at his son, who was trying to escape from the table as quietly as possible. "Finish your milk before you go, Hadrianus." He scolded the boy gently. Hadrianus moaned and was in a bad mood as he leaned back on the chair, "I don't like milk." "And I don't like to fight with you for milk every day." Voldemort looked at him incisively as the boy tried to avoid getting close to the glass. Hadrianus sighed and took the glass. Voldemort watched as a hawk while Hadrianus pinched his nose to avoid the smell and drank the milk at once. Voldemort rolled his eyes. Your son is very dramatic! "He learned from the best." Voldemort ignored the small traitor whisper and focussed on the package. "Here, something to take away the taste." Voldemort opened a small glass jar and took a spatula full of black molds and placed them on Hadrian's empty plate. Hadrianus took a deep breath to savor it. "No, don't do that," Voldemort shook his head, "You only need to open a ramp to taste the air."