I roamed the dark halls of Hogwarts in the middle of the night, having just left the Room of Requirements.
My destination was the residence of the vice headmaster. Of course, my target was the acting headmaster, but poor Carrow was unable to unlock those prestigious rooms — or the office — forcing him to serve from the office McGonagall had been using before the Death Eater takeover.
Poor Carrow. What did he do to deserve such an indignity? Just torture, murder, and some other smaller crimes against humanity. He was practically a newborn.
Of course, his very long sheet of crimes was the reason I didn't bother to come up with a more merciful way than sending him to the brood of Aragog.
Without his wand.
Of course, I was a gentleman, and I would give him a fighting chance — just as much as he had given to the muggles he had been hunting whenever he was bored for the last decade.
He had told that story during a meeting, bragging about his incredible success of taking them down in less than half an hour with a head-start.
As I approached, I pulled a stone from my pocket, one that had been covered with layers and layers of runes. It took me three hours to make this. Essentially, it was a compressed explosion, wrapped by some dark crimson flames that would look like Fiendfire from a distance.
Combined with the rumors of treasure, it should create a convincing story.
At a concealed corner, I pulled the map, checking the location of Carrow once again, just in case he was called. It was already late and it was unlikely, but I still didn't want to take the risk.
That caution proved to be useful. When I was just a few dozen feet away from the door, another name appeared. Macnair.
Another waste of space that shared Carrow's obsession with the killing, with only one difference. He targeted his desire to kill the magical beasts rather than muggles. Technically, I might have respected that … but he was a coward who only executed the animals once they were caught and immobilized.
Add in the fact that his preference was… just a preference. He had no problem having a fun night joining Carrows for some casual mayhem and murder.
Not exactly the kind of guy whose absence would make the world a worse place.
The door was locked and warded, but the Elder Wand once again showed its value, allowing me to break the ward and open the door silently, the cloak allowing me to pass through easily.
"… come on. Don't tell me you want to hide that secret from your best friend. Everyone knows about the treasure, and you need my help to keep it from the others," Macnair begged while Carrow was still in his bed, looking confused.
"I don't know what are you talking about. There's no treasure. You sound—" he said until his argument was interrupted by noticing Macnair froze.
"Fuck," he gasped, trying to reach for his wand as he realized there was a problem, but it was too late. He was not faster than my Imperio. "You two are going to go to the Acramantula lair under your invisibility cloaks," I started, then paused, wondering whether I should take them to have some spares I could give around.
After a moment, I decided against it. I didn't want to go around distributing their stuff. No need to raise suspicion. Instead, I continued ordering. "Make sure to kill any Death Eater you come across once you enter the forest," I added.
Hopefully, Macnair wasn't the only one who swallowed that particular lie, and the mysterious treasure would cost the lives of more than two Death Eaters.
The less they were, the easier the end battle would be. Hopefully, Potter would still be able to take down Voldie … but there was no harm in making some plans in case my changes changed the nature of that encounter as well.
"Once you arrive at the hive, immediately kill a few of the acromantulas while moving deeper, and trigger the rock in your hand, but stay close. It'll save your life," I said.
The last lie was mean, but also it was the easiest way to make sure they wouldn't throw away the Imperius I placed on them. I didn't expect them to be that strong … but not testing them was the better idea.
They were a bunch of rats, and deserved to die without even realizing they were being hunted.
With their mission received, they put on their invisibility cloaks and left. I could have gone to my room, but I chose a different location.
Astronomy tower.
I packed my invisibility cloak back into my pocket as I climbed the stairs, looking toward the forest. I wasn't afraid of anyone seeing me. At worst, I would say that I had heard the same rumor.
I said nothing as I looked toward the forest, taking note of the occasional flashes of light. Mostly sickly green, occasionally mixed with bright purple and red. Under the Imperio from the Elder Wand, Macnair and Carrow were clearly not holding back.
Those lights moved closer and closer to the lair of the man-eating spiders.
A flash of dark fire, an explosion that was loud enough to wake up half the school … and hopefully, Acramantulas were not a problem anymore.
A nice bonus, though my real focus was on how many Death Eaters had died.
"Things are going to get tense," I murmured as I wrote multiple letters. Some of them were targeting Hermione, Lily, and Fleur, telling a version of the events — that didn't include Imperius or other questionable spells — that I had played some role in triggering a fight between multiple Death Eaters, followed by an explosion.
The others went to several Death Eaters, telling them about Macnair and Carrow having some kind of fight with other Death Eaters … but unfortunately, as a mere student, I wasn't able to intervene once they left…
I used magic to deliver the letters to the girls rather than relying on owls, using the unique magical protocols we agreed on.
Death Eaters just received owls. After all, how could I known that they would fight against each other.
After that, I stayed on top of the Astronomy tower, waiting for the inevitable summons. I wanted to return to Susan's side, but the number of lights suggested that tonight's battle had been even costlier than I expected. Summons were inevitable. The only question: the exact method of the summons.
That, I learned soon. I felt my Dark Mark get warm. I jumped on a broom, and flew toward the border so I could apparate.
Hopefully, I would be able to stay behind during the meeting. I didn't want to be the target when Voldie inevitably started throwing a temper tantrum.
***
"Okay, that was not what I was expecting," I said as Lucius stood in front of me, looking like he had just swallowed a beetle.
"Neither was I, but you finally have a chance to bring Malfoy name to the next stage," he said. He clearly wanted to say more. Instead, he used the Floo to disappear, quickly going to his job.
It was already evening. And, considering I had spent almost eighteen hours in uninterrupted meetings while Death Eaters did their best to reassign their missions after the shocking disaster that cost almost two dozen deaths in middle and high-ranking Death Eaters.
Apparently, only a portion was due to the two I had cursed. The rest started cursing each other once they realized the others were doing the same, assuming the treasure was worth it.
I would have blamed them … but Forbidden Forest was certainly creepy enough to force people into some bad decisions.
Even more shocking was Voldemort's decision. He decided not to attend, choosing to stay out of the country even when a significant portion of his followers killed each other. He seemed to be really focused on his search for the Elder Wand, unaware of the uselessness of that particular task.
It was better than I expected. I had already tried to find an excuse about how I managed to discover the locations of two Horcrux just in time without looking extremely suspicious.
Luckily, Voldemort cared absolutely nothing about the lives of his followers. He might have reacted differently if it was an attack from a different group, forcing him to act … but the idiots killing themselves, were far less important.
I doubted if he even realized how much work his followers were doing to keep the country running.
The absence of two dozen of his followers, most of them working in the ministry meant that they had to reassign most of the important government roles, and they ran out of ranking Death Eaters before they reached to the role of Acting Headmaster.
And, while I didn't get the role, I received the task of keeping the new Acting Headmaster in check until they could assign a more appropriate name.
It would have been boring … but luckily, I had managed to adjust that selection slightly, and made sure that they selected a Slytherin alumni, even if she wasn't a Death Eater.
I threw a handful of dust into the fireplace, and it turned green. "Hogwarts, vice headmistress office," I said as I took a step forward…