New Beginnings

Chapter 41

When Narcissa returned to Tom's office, she half collapsed onto the sofa next to her husband, but managed to hide the extent of her exhaustion.

For the past few hours she'd been with the Lestranges, 'reading' their minds and seeing just what Azkaban had been like for them. Now Rabastan had arguably been affected worse by the prison, which Narcissa thought had something to do with him being the youngest of the trio. Rudolphus had a habit of compartmentalizing his problems and was more focused on getting on track than thinking about anything else. His wife preferred to shrug it off, though she did pull Narcissa aside to ask about the Longbottoms.

They might have been convicted for sending them insane, but none of them would've ever tortured someone to that extent, they weren't complete monsters. Narcissa had been the mind healer to try and help them, but there were some things that couldn't be healed. Bellatrix had huffed a sigh of relief when Narcissa had told her they had the best healers at St Mungos.

The men had been catching each other up on more personal matters, with everything else having been covered in the boat trip and the rest over dinner.

Now they were sat in Tom's study, an elf having brought some refreshments for them.

Unfortunately Barty couldn't come back, nor Severus and neither could be contacted. Communications may have been fixed, but the aurors insisted on screening every letter, so they didn't bother. The February half term was soon anyway and it wasn't unusual for a parent to pull their kid out for a week.

"Tom." Bellatrix started, not used to the muggle name. "I'm assuming you didn't break us out because you missed us."

The Dark Lord snorted at her bluntness, "no, Dumbledore has escape from the ministry and we need him dead."

Obviously Narcissa and Lucius knew that Harry had defected and his stay with the Malfoys had been well documented in the Daily Prophet, which everyone had assumed from the fact that Harry and Draco had apparated together. With Dumbledore out, Harry was going to be his prime target especially after this. Both Malfoys had figured out Tom cared about Harry (it was glaringly obvious), but not to this extent.

Tom might need Dumbledore dead, but the only threat the old man posed was to Harry as his resurrection was still a secret.

"You want us to kill Dumbledore." Rabastan clarified, slightly confused as normally they'd track down the target and Tom would be the one to kill them.

Tom nod sharply, "we haven't been able to track him."

"Which is where we come in." Rudolphus stretched where he sat, cracking his back loudly because he knew it annoyed Lucius (after years in that cramped cell, he found he could easily do it). "We can start tomorrow, if that is what you'd prefer?"

Tom shared a look with the Malfoys, who both just gazed back with 'its-your-decision' expressions.

"Rest for a day or two, than go." Tom wants Dumbledore dead soon, but he doesn't want any of them to collapse or get caught because they were sloppy.

The Lestranges share a look of their own, coming to decision and just shrugging.

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In Hogwarts, Harry sat quietly, waiting for news about Dumbledore but also knowing that nothing's going to happen so soon. He'd been a wreck for days, the single thought of what Dumbledore would do to him, Draco or his family was terrifying.