SUPRA VIRES

CHAPTER ELEVEN: IN THE DOLOHOV SEDIS

6th year

"What about your son, Lucius?" The Dark Lord pretended to be deep in thought. Of course, he didn't care much about Draco's fate, but he noticed a change in Lucius over the summer, after his son's disappearance. The man returned to his home and wife less and less often. More and more often he stayed here at Dolohov Sedis - the residence of Antonin Dolohov, one of the Death Eaters who provided the place.

Most importantly, the villa was located on the edge of the Forbidden Forest and Voldemort knew that Hogwarts was somewhere nearby. Unfortunately, to his annoyance, the castle was so well guarded by ancient spells that even he couldn't break them yet.

Voldemort looked at Lucius. Most Death Eaters would have been depressed long ago. However, instead of sinking into despair, Malfoy tried even harder to fulfill the tasks set by the Dark Lord.

"Nothing's known yet, my Lord," he answered truthfully. "Nobody knows what happened to him, and Pansy is no longer able to answer my questions."

"Haven't you tried Veritaserum on her?" the Dark Lord asked casually. Few people realized that Parkinson had become so ill since the holidays that they decided to hide her here. Voldemort had just remembered that in two hours he had a meeting with Evan, the girl's father, who claimed that Pansy should go back to school. In this case, someone else would have to take over the necklace.

Voldemort chuckled to himself. The fool hadn't seen his daughter for a month, if he did he would be terrified by what he would find.

Maybe Voldemort would agree to such an arrangement, he would order the magical object to be removed from her neck, if there was a willing person to replace Pansy. Because after what happened with the girl, all Death Eaters withdrew their not-so-old begging, according to which they offered to wear the amulet next to their hearts. Even he himself, the Dark Lord, didn't expect that simple guarding could harm the owner of the necklace so much. He was lucky that he wanted to test the amulet on someone completely useless first.

"No, my Lord, it could kill her, she's so exhausted..." Lucius muttered regretfully.

The man felt guilty for what happened to the girl. When he gave her the necklace a year ago, he had no idea it could be dangerous. According to him, the Dark Lord deliberately didn't mention the threat; he knew that if Malfoy knew the truth, he wouldn't agree to hand it to Parkinson.

"Nothing will happen to her, my Lord?" he asked finally, lowering his head.

Pansy gained his love. Draco never really listened to him, he always had his own opinion, and although he followed his orders, Lucius knew that the boy did it reluctantly and out of compulsion.

He had just remembered, once he had heard, that Draco had been dating that little Weasley girl to whom he had given Tom Riddle's diary a few years ago. He was furious that his own son didn't think about the surname, which should always be associated with dignity and respect. He immediately summoned Draco and ordered him to stop seeing her. The boy, of course, obeyed the order, but after this event he moved away from his father even more.

"Unfortunately, I cannot assure you of that," Voldemort interrupted Lucius' thoughts. "But it seems to me that soon we won't need this necklace, soon we will be able to destroy it and replace it with others."

"Will Pansy go back to school, my Lord?"

"I have one more task for her, but if everything goes according to my plan, she won't have to do it."

The Dark Lord snorted. He just remembered something.

"Did you get the Ministry to expel that old Mudbloods defender from school?"

"I'm in the process, my Lord," Lucius said briskly. He had always hated the Headmaster of the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and now he had an undeniable reason to get rid of him. Two students from school were missing - the Ministry had to react. Although Pansy was under their care, no one else knew about it.

With his Lord's permission, Lucius left the chamber. He immediately went upstairs to Pansy's room.

Antonin Dolohov's residence was almost as large as his own manor. Despite this, Voldemort kept expanding the house to such an extent that even Antonin himself didn't know about all the new rooms. Malfoy climbed the stairs and saw Nott standing at the top with a tray.

"Is this for Pansy?" he said harshly in greeting.

"Yes, but there's no point in giving it to her," the man replied. He took a glass of pumpkin juice, which was originally intended for the girl, and took a sip himself.

"Why?" Lucius asked, looking at Nott with distaste.

"Because she has no appetite anymore, she just lies down and looks at one point. Like a plant..." he added, moistening his lips with his tongue and now leaning towards the food.

"Give it back," Malfoy ordered, taking the tray from the man. "I'll take it to her."

He turned on his heel and walked away from the surprised Nott.

Parkinson's room was sunny. This was provided by the large windows located on the west side and additional interior colors, which were mainly based on warm colors.

In accordance with Nott's words, the girl was lying on a large bed with a subtle, four-cornered, white canopy attached to it. The sun's rays streamed into the room, illuminating her pale face. Pansy's hands moved slightly as soon as Lucius crossed the threshold of the chamber, but then they froze again. The girl's gaze was absent, as if she was looking at the Death Eater and didn't see him at all.

"Pansy, I brought food," the man said, walking over to the bed with a tray. It's true that Nott drank the juice, but Malfoy somehow had a feeling that he wouldn't have to go downstairs for a new glass.

"Thank you," she replied, not even looking at the food.

The man inhaled loudly. All in all, she didn't look any different than she did two months ago, except for the fact that all the will to live had disappeared from her.

His gaze stopped at the girl's neck, where a piece of silver chain was visible. The cause of her unhappiness and gloomy mood.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked, sitting at the foot of her bed.

He put the tray on the shelf next to him and, seeing that the girl wasn't going to answer him, said:

"I know you feel bad, but just think about it, you'll be going back to school soon..."

"I have no reason to go back there," Pansy interrupted him in a slightly rude tone. He knew that the girl was hiding something from him, something that directly concerned his son, and it was enough to give her a few drops of Veritaserum to learn the truth. Still, he didn't want his curiosity to come at the expense of Parkinson's health.

"It's about Draco, isn't it? What happened last year. You know something about his disappearance."

Pansy bit her lower lip and it started to quiver. After a while, one tear rolled onto the pillow and disappeared, soaking into it, leaving only a wet trail.

"Because I... Me and her... We... I..." Pansy began incoherently, suppressing the rising sob in her chest. She kept looking at one point, as if she had all the answers to Lucius' questions written there. She didn't say anything more, she just closed her eyes. Perhaps she wanted to shield herself from the bright light, perhaps she was ashamed of the explanations, or perhaps she simply gave vent to her emotions, letting the tears flow calmly down her cheeks.