Dead Rats Tell No Tales
Voldemort was not happy. Not happy at all. Peter was annoying, slow, incapable of even the smallest of tasks, and reluctant to do what he wanted. After they had met Quirrell, Voldemort had hoped he could persuade the man to see things his way. Especially after he learned that Quirrell was the Muggle Studies Professor at Hogwarts. The conversation had gone the right way until Peter mucked it up and Quirrell had left them. Voldemort had punished Peter severely for that mistake.
At first, Voldemort had wanted to find a special kind of snake, so he could take the venom and get a corporal body of his own. But because he grew tired of dealing with Peter, he had ordered him to go to Malfoy Manor. Lucius was a much better flunky and would do what Voldemort wanted without the blunders. He hoped.
But luck was not on Voldemort’s side. After arriving back in England, Peter had stopped the Knight Bus. He had asked to be taken to the Manor, and all was going well until Peter left the Bus. By sheer accident, he had slipped on the stairs, was unable to hold himself, twisted his ankle, and fell from the Bus, resulting in a broken neck. If Voldemort had a face, he would pinch the bridge of his nose in order to maintain his composure. As it was, he had to leave the body and he was a wraith once more.
He hovered nearby, looking around to see if there was someone else to possess when he saw a woman. Dressed in black, a silver pendant hanging on her neck. She was by all accounts a beautiful woman. She had appeared right after Peter’s fall and was now looking at the body. Now, Voldemort was not easily spooked. But when the woman looked up from the dead wizard, directly at him and smiled at him in a very sinister way, he fled, knowing in an instant who she was. Death…the thing he feared most of all.
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‘I saw the bastard.’ Dream looked up from the nightmare he was creating, to see his sister walking over to him. ‘Which bastard are we talking about?’
‘Voldemort.’ Death told Dream what happened. ‘Do you think we need to tell Reggie?’ Dream abandoned the nightmare and together they walked back to the palace. ‘No, I do not see the point. He is not a threat to her right now. Just a wraith, nothing corporeal, but sadly I can not claim him yet...bloody Horcruxes.' Dream smiled. His sister was quite fierce when agitated.
‘Where is she anyway?’ ‘With her godfather.’
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Sirius was released from the hospital and Reggie was accompanying him to Grimmauld Place. Sirius had asked the Goblins to take a look at the place, they had cleansed it, but it was still gloomy and doomy. Reggie had to ask permission from Dream to even go in the house. Matthew was accompanying them, so the three of them entered the house. The long and dark hallway had a sinister vibe. Reggie was slightly terrified of the atmosphere the house breathed. Sirius noticed this. After spending the last weeks with her, he had learned how to read her a bit. Her feathers were puffed, she was gripping his shoulder just that much firmer and she kept looking around her.
‘We can go, pup. If you don’t like it, I will find somewhere else to live. God knows I can afford it.’
Reggie felt guilty. This was his house and just because it gave her the creeps, should not mean he had to move. She tried to talk him out of it, but Sirius had some bad memories about the place, so he turned around, opened the door, gave her a look and said; ‘Neh, this is not my place anyway. Come on you two, we have a house to buy. Maybe Remus wants to come and help me look.’
‘Is Remus the one that teaches at Hogwarts?’ Matthew asked. ‘Yep, and also my best friend. Come to think of it, he might just be my only friend.’ Sirius mused. ‘Wanna come with me?’
Reggie looked at Matthew. ‘Can we?’ ‘Let me check with the King, one moment.’ Matthew hopped away and made the connection in his mind with Dream. ‘Yes, Matthew, what is it?’
‘Sirius asked if Reg and I want to come with him to Hogwarts. The house he had gave both him and Reg the creeps and he wants Remus to help him buy a house.’
Dream was thinking about it. ‘Wait, give me a moment, I must ask something of my sister.’ After a little while Dream spoke again. ‘It’s fine, look after her. And while you are there…you can do something for me, if the opportunity presents itself. Look for the Invisibility Cloak, one of the Hallows I told you about. I don’t know where it might be, but if you can find it, let me know please.’
Sirius was pleased that his pup would come with him. ‘I will Apparate you both with me. Please hold tight and do not let go.’ Both ravens did what he asked and after a very uncomfortable second, the Appeared in Hogsmeade. ‘Where are we?’
‘This is Hogsmeade. One of the few wizarding communities that still exists. Only wixen live here. The students of Hogwarts come here some weekends, there is a pub, a few stores…and most importantly, probably available houses.’
With a spring in his step, Sirius started the walk to the castle.