Keeping The Dark Lord (on his toes)

Chapter - 19 Gifts ( 31 July 1994 )

~Voldemort~

He glanced towards the fallen form of Dumbledore as his followers left the room. The man was still stuck experiencing the hell that he’d put his victims through, but after the way the man had played with so many lives, he’d thought it appropriate that the man be made into a puppet himself…for a few moments at least.

The look on his followers’ faces when they’d both heard and then seen the puppet had been quite funny to behold and he knew that he would be saving the memory for now. If this was how they reacted with a puppet, he wondered how they would react to muggle clowns.

He wandlessly apparated the man back to his cell, (a glass case he’s fashioned himself) before walking towards his rooms, only to be waylaid by a sulking Nagini.

He gently picked her up, thanking the ritual for the strength to do so, given her considerable size and weight. “:: What’ss wrong? Did one of the bunniess make a ssuccessful escape?::”

Nagini shook her head, “::I thought I ssmelled your Ghosst in the room where your minionss come and go, but I couldn’t find him…::”

Nagini had barely finished speaking before Voldemort took off towards the meeting room. Surely he would’ve sensed him if he’d been at the meeting? He entered the room and grimaced at the other scents, but the scent of his mate was undeniably there…and it went no further.

Something wasn’t adding up. His mate never left a scent on anything except the packages and items he sent, so maybe that meant that one of his followers had been in contact with him? If so, then who? He wanted to ask Nagini but he doubted that she would even remember the names of the so-called ‘insects’ as she referred to them...or what they’d looked like.

It did give him a lead though…his mate seemed to be close enough to keep an eye on and influence things, but that didn’t stop the fact that he was getting quite frustrated with the fact that he hadn’t been able to find him yet.

He turned and left the room with Nagini still in his arms. He headed towards his bedroom. Why didn’t his mate want him to find him? Surely he wouldn’t give him gifts if he were unhappy with him, so maybe something else was the problem?

His thoughts were interrupted as a letter dropped onto his bedside table out of nowhere. The writing was familiar and suddenly he had an idea of why his mate was able to deliver his presents without being seen. His mate seemed to have an ability close to his own…one that could send objects through space without needing him to deliver them himself.

He reached for the letter before pausing and he realized that his hands were shaking at the mere thought of having received another letter from his mate. It was both amazing and scary to realize that someone else unknowingly had so much control over him. He gripped them into fists before reaching for the letter once more.

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Voldemort

I am glad to see that you have made use of the gift I have given you on your birthday, unfortunately, I did not foresee the danger it may cause for one Harry James Potter until after I sent the gift, so I have been making some preparations.

I know that you have tried to get him to your place for a while now, but I doubt that he’d go while knowing that you might never let him out again, so I have prepared another plan. I managed to convince him to be my assistant while you sort the ministry out.

Don’t worry, I won’t leave you to do everything alone. I will be sending my brother to aid you, he might randomly talk to himself at times, but that’s merely a quirk of his that manifests while he’s thinking.