The Queen of Vipers || Fred Weasley

III.XIX

Lightning flooded the hall with white light; flashing across the ocean that raged far below.

Arched french windows reaching tall enough to see into the heavens lined the outer wall giving a panoramic display of the tempest over the open water as freezing rain and sea spray hammered the glass.

What was once a grand room was now derelict, having been exposed to the elements through the broken glass in the windows that had been recently, magically, repaired. Dozens of sea-rusted candelabras were scattered across the marble floor which was cracked and weather worn, covered in a layer of sand and dirt. Dark frescoes depicting the Maiden, Mother and Crone flocked by ravens were sun bleached and peeling off the walls between the two large doors leading into the intimate ballroom.

For almost a decade and a half the only dwellers of Raven Hall were the countless creatures and critters that took residence after the last owners unexpectedly disappeared.

Until now.

A few moments prior, almost two dozen loud CRACKS! that had nothing to do with the current weather, sent shockwaves through the room.

Now twenty sodden persons, each paired up when they arrived, were standing in silence, heads bowed. Half were dressed in all black with bone masks obscuring their faces, while the others were in uniform robes so dirty, one could hardly make out a pattern anymore.

Separate from the rest, a stout and cowering man with a hand that glinted bright as another flash of lightning lit up the room, and whose whites of his eyes shone just as bright in the dark as he stared wide-eyed ahead in terror, stood alone in the corner of the room.

And then there was him. Or what was left of the man that haunted Electra's nightmares since she was a girl.

He now reflected the monster that lay within. His skin was white as sunbleached bone and waxy looking without any hair or even lips. The irises and whites of his eyes were no more, now flooded with a colour spine-chillingly close to fresh blood, and pupils slitted like a snake's. Like his eyes, what was left of his nose was down to two serpent-like slits. Black flowing robes seemed to drift around his tall, thin frame like smoke.

A monster through and through.

The storm had been muffled magically so by the flick of his wand at the windows.

Finally, he spoke. "Welcome back, my loyal Death Eaters." His eerily high voice was akin to the sound of nails on a chalkboard.

For a long moment no one moved, even dared to breathe, until someone pushed forward collapsing to their knees before him and pressing her forehead to the dirty floor at his bare feet. Hair as dark as night was matted down her back, practically covering her like a blanket. "Master." Her voice was nothing more than a crackle from not using it for a very long time, but one could miss the reverence in it. "I knew you would come back to us. I knew it!" She gasped in a breath. "I never denounced you, my Lord. I stayed your faithful servant, always."

"And you have been rewarded for it, Bella."

The woman looked up then. She looked a great deal older than she actually was, her face gaunt and sickly pale, and the skin over her eyes was sagging slightly from the sudden loss of fat there, but she was still beautiful. Sharp jawline and prominent brows, round hooded eyes, a straight nose and high, elegant cheekbones. Electra recognized nearly every feature. Worst of all, she had the exact dark grey eyes as what looked back in the mirror. "Thank you, my Lord," she exhaled with such adoration it was bordering on obsession.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named spread his hands wide with unnaturally long fingers that reminded Electra of spider's legs. "All of my most faithful Death Eaters have been rewarded tonight for your unending loyalty." His scarlet eyes grazed over their heads. "It is unfortunate I can not say the same for some of those who brought you back to me." A few of those in black robes and bone masks flinched. "Otherwise this reunion would have happened far earlier. You can blame your long suffering on those around you." There was an awkward shuffling and stiffening of the masked Death Eaters. But none of them dared to interject or protest.