Dabbling With The Dark

Chapter 34

Materializing on High Street in Hogsmeade, he just stood there as the view of Hogwarts in the distance caught his eye. There'd been a time when he'd loved that place more than any other in the world. It was a home of sorts for him, but not anymore. His home was the Shrieking Shack, still called that by everyone even though the place had been completely remodeled to it's original white sliding glory and the grounds were clean and maintained. And beyond the closet door in his bedroom was another place he thought of as home, one that would really feel like one again rather than leaving an empty place inside him when he looked around it. Home.

"Minister?" one of the Auror escorts asked as he just stood there. It pulled him out of his reverie and he looked at the two men standing behind him.

"You two can head home. I'm not going anywhere else tonight," he said.

"Are you're sure, sir?" the second Auror asked.

"I'm sure. I'll see you at the office in the morning," he replied.

The two Aurors nodded, but still didn't leave until he'd moved inside the front gate-and the wards-of the Shrieking Shack. He made sure they did before opening the front door to his house, though, well aware thanks to his newly reacquired Horcrux that someone decidedly unfriendly to Aurors was somewhere inside. While the two that had escorted him home weren't exactly cut out for the rank of Death Eater, there were a few others that would fit in perfectly.

Putting that out of his mind for the moment more out of fatigue than anything else, he activated the wards on the house itself looking around the sitting room. Nothing was changed, but things had been moved and touched, inspected was the real word he was looking for. He paid no attention to that either. The only thing he was paying attention to was that he wasn't on the floor already in pain from a Cruciatus curse.

As he stood there his house was quiet, too quiet if the truth be told. In the years since he'd gotten Bella and Rodolphus out of Azkaban his house was rarely quiet. There were usually at least a few polyjuiced people moving around inside it. Today, there was no one there except for the distinct presence of someone very powerful who had a fondness for the darker side of magic.

He double-checked the wards to make sure the detection of that wasn't felt anywhere except inside his home. While what he was picking up through the link was still strong as Hell, he knew it wasn't as strong as it would get after a little bit of time to adjust to the living world again. He wasn't about to let anything, Aurors or otherwise, stop that from happening. Given why Voldemort needed to regain his full strength again, it made him not being on the floor in his empty living room even more confusing.

His minor search for the man ended as soon as he walked into the study. Sitting behind the desk was Voldemort with Nagini curled up asleep in her basket as usual, stacks of files on either side of the man and the drawers of file cabinets open with more stacks of files on the open drawers. With another file in the man's hands, Voldemort looked at him as he walked into the office and took a seat in one of the armchairs across from his desk.

"You could have invited your little Auror guards inside with you," Voldemort grinned evilly.

"Figured you and the Death Eaters would have enough fun with me once I got here," he replied pulling loose his tie. "Where is everyone? I was sure the first words I'd hear when I walked in were 'Seize him'."

"They have been told not to interrupt us as I have matters to discuss with you this evening," Voldemort replied. He just nodded unbuttoning his robe. "I take it you had a rather long and exhausting day once the announcement of Dumbledore's death was made public."