chapter 1
May 7th, 1997
The road to the manor was silent. Nothing but the sound of his own footsteps keeping Lucius company on his journey. The closer he got to the manor, the more dread he felt for his purpose of being there. Earlier that morning he had received a letter, informing him that he was wanted by the Dark Lord that evening around sunset. The letter had told him specifically that he was to walk to the house from the main road. That letter is how he ended up where he is now, walking up a long dark drive to visit an insane man, in a house full of insane fugitives.
Soon enough Lucius started seeing the lights of Slytherin Manor, a long forgotten place thought to have been in ruins. The great manor built of a dark blue marble shone like a beacon within the large forest surrounding it. A large fire burned a few metres away from the entrance, people stood and sat around it, drinking and dancing with one another. Lucius had no idea what they could be celebrating but he thought it was nice to see his friends in such high spirits.
As soon as Lucius passed through the wards he started hearing the commotion of his partying friends. Ignoring the party for now, Lucius opened the large oak door and entered the foyer. His footsteps echoed through the halls as he walked towards the Dark Lords study, anticipating whatever waited for him behind the door. A soft glow emitted from under the door to the study, changing colours every few moments. Lucius immediately knew his Lord was making a potion, for what or who he had no idea but had a feeling he would find out soon.
Lucius paused in front of the door, taking his time to breathe and calm his nerves before knocking. When he did get the courage to knock the door creaked open, revealing the Dark Lord standing over a cauldron. His pale scales looked like they glowed in the fire-light, but his snake-like face was hidden by shadows.
“Thank you for coming Lucius, I had expected you to be here sooner but late is better than never i suppose,” the Dark Lord's voice was threatening yet held no promise of pain which surprised Lucius, he had expected at least a small cruciatus for his tardiness.
“I am yours to command, my lord, may i ask what it is i will be doing for you?” Lucius’s fear slipped into his voice slightly, making the Dark Lord grin.
“It is nothing dangerous, i can assure you Lucius, i am simply searching for someone,” Voldemort reached to the table next to him and grabbed a small vial, pouring it into the cauldron. “This person, is related by blood to your lovely wife, Narcissa, all i need for you to do is get a piece of her hair and bring it to me, i will handle the rest from there. I may enlist the help of Narcissa if i see its needed but i do not trust you to deal with anything at all important due to the… incident in the department of mysteries,” the dark lord sneered at the memory of the lost prophecy, his disappointment and anger seeping into his gaze.
“Is a piece of hair all you need my lord?” lucius asked, turning his gaze to his feet in shame.
“Yes, go home and get it now. By the time you return everything else shall be ready.”
“Yes my lord,” Lucius turned on the spot and walked out the door, leaving Lord Voldemort alone to his thoughts and brewing.
Lucius arrived back at his Manor quickly, summoning an elf and demanding the location of his wife.
“Mistress Narcissa is in your bed chambers, sir,” the elf replied, bowing his head and quickly stepping out of the way of his master, whose cane landed right where the elves' foot had been mere seconds ago.
Lucius rushed up the stairs towards his and his wife's chambers, wishing to reach her and get back to his Lord before he gets too irritable. His legs ached from all the walking he had done today, and running up a flight of stairs certainly didn't help. He slowed his quick pace in an attempt to lessen the pain his legs were in. He reached the top of the stairs and flung the door to his room open.
“Narcissa, i need a piece or two of your hair,” Lucius demanded, summoning a potions vial for the hairs to be put into.
“Lucius! What on earth would you need my hair for? And where have you been? I haven't seen you all day,” Narcissa exclaimed, scolding her husband for making her worry while reaching towards her head to pull out two strings of her long white-blonde hair.
“Im so sorry for making you worry, my dear, but the Dark Lord needs your hair,” Lucius stated, putting a cover onto the vial. “I have no idea why nor do i have time to explain even if i did know, i will be back soon, love,” he rushed his words, disregarding his pureblood etiquette. Lucius all but ran out of the room and manor, quickly apparating away towards Riddle Manor.
“Lucius, you took more time than i had anticipated, it has been over an hour, ” the dark lord drawled, sending Lucius a threatening look to tell him that if he was late again there would be dire consequences.
“I apologise, my lord, I have no excuse for my tardiness," Lucius frowned, knowing that he had no excuse to have taken as long as he did. None that mattered to the Dark Lord anyway.
“I do not care. Give me the hair, Lucius,” the Dark Lord held out his hand, Lucius quickly grabbed the vial out of his pocket and dropped it into the Dark Lord's waiting hand.
Voldemort turned away from Lucius, wordlessly and wandlessly removing the stasis charm from the potion and adding his final ingredient, a piece of hair from somebody blood related. The potion glowed silver for a moment before turning to a light shade of blue, the colour signifying that his potion had worked and he was that much closer to what he was looking for.
“Leave me Lucius, I will have no more need for you tonight,” the dark lord quickly put the potion into vials, finalising with a total of eight vials.
Grabbing one of the vials Voldemort quickly moved over to a desk in a corner, on the desk was a single piece of parchment and on that parchment there was one thing written, a single name. Voldemort poured the potion onto the paper and watched the letters form. It took a few seconds before a place could be read, Kilt Rock, Isle of Skye.