Keeping The Dark Lord (on his toes)

Chapter - 27 The Werewolf ( 2 to 3 March 1995 )

~Voldemort~

He had to stop himself from physically settling his hands on Dimitri’s shoulders as the young man paced around the study. In fact, he was very close to simply apparating to the outskirts of Fenrir’s compound to get answers, but then Dimitri would insist on going with and Voldemort was quite sure that, with the state the young man was currently in, something was sure to happen.

Finally, after what felt like days, but could have only been a few hours at most, an owl tapped at the window. Dimitri twisted around from his pacing and would have lost his balance if Voldemort hadn’t expected the movement and steadied him before he fell.

He couldn’t deny that his heart did funny things when Dimitri sent him a grateful smile, even if it was done half-absentmindedly and he found himself silently promising to always be there when Dimitri stumbled, both literally and figuratively. He knew he was promising a lot of things lately, but he wanted to give everything to Dimitri, no matter what it took.

He sent his magic out to allow Hedwig in, as Dimitri (and the owl herself) had both refused when he’d wanted to use one of the more generic owls for this important message. He then immediately handed it over before summoning Mina, Dimitri’s overly-protective house elf, to bring them something to eat as it was getting quite late.

It was at that moment, after the elf popped away, that he realized what was happening. The elf had appeared after their return from Hogwarts once Dimitri called her, and Hedwig had apparently always been hovering nearby as she waited for her wizard’s call, but the two had made themselves at home immediately.

Voldemort found himself looking around the room, finding little knickknacks and objects that were proof of Dimitri’s presence in the castle. It seemed that even before he knew the young man’s identity, Dimitri had already made himself at home with him, and the thought sent a strange wave of feelings through him. He couldn’t fully untangle them at the moment, but he didn’t have to.

~Dimitri~

Dimitri felt like he was holding his breath as he opened the letter and his eyes involuntarily moved to the bottom before they even had a chance to scan the top.

His breath slowly and forcefully left him as he closed his eyes in disappointment as he remembered. Of course, Remus wouldn’t write the letter because this Remus didn’t even know him yet. It felt like another punch to his gut, but he forced himself to calm down as he felt Voldemort’s hand on his shoulder. He preferred a Remus that didn’t know him to a Remus that would never get to know him.

That thought made him feel a little better so he started reading the letter from the top.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Lord

Remus Lupin is stable for now, but it might not remain this way for long. Even if I am the one that gave him the curse to save him from a disease, I am afraid that he managed to become a part of a different pack and he needs them to be able to fully heal.

It seems as if he has forced himself to live alone for quite some time and this may have deteriorated his mental faculties to the point that he accidentally took an overdose during a moment of absentmindedness…or his wolf may have done so if it thought that the last of its pack was no more.

I read that Sirius Black has been released, and with the number of times that the man has called out to the Black heir and his other friends, as well as the Potter heir, I would suggest that we need at least one of them to be able to drag Lupin from the coma he has now fallen into.