"Where is your lord?"
Lily didn't bother to make any half-assed pleasantries; she stared Selwyn in the eye and asked bluntly.
Selwyn avoided her gaze.
"No one knows where the lord is! I haven't even been informed of the Lord's return! Did he, did he really come back?"
"Crucio."
The Unforgivable Curse hit Selwyn's obese wife, and her entire body was left rolling on the floor in pain, like a fat pig to the slaughter.
Lily rarely resorted to the Unforgivable Curses anymore, she had been restraining herself ever since she had killed Snape, but she was equally aware of the importance of this visit to this world, and the gentle thoughts that she had after meeting Harry didn't sink her into it. She was well aware that in the other world, her fellow comrades were all still struggling to hold on to their lives, and that they had to put an end to the affairs of this world as soon as possible, and then go back.
There was fear in Selwyn's eyes, a pampered fence-sitter like him would do anything for his own enjoyment and the good of his family, and now under Lily's coercion, he couldn't hold out much longer.
"I'm not lying! The Lord has never been in direct contact with us! He never really trusted me! All the orders he gave were relayed to us through Peter! I don't know where he is now!"
He screamed, telling all he knew.
Lily still looked at him coldly.
"What did he want you to do?"
"He just sent Peter to ask me if I had forgotten my loyalty to him, and when I said that I had never forgotten my lord, he told me to first prepare a sum of money and then wait for the lord's orders."
"And if you wished to contact him?"
"It was all Peter's one-sided approach to me! He didn't give me a channel to contact him."
"Did you know about the Azkaban prison break?"
"No! I didn't know they all escaped until I read the newspaper!"
Having asked all she wanted to ask, Lily got up from her chair and handed out a vial to Selwyn.
"Give me that memory of Wormtail finding you."
Selwyn, of course, didn't have half a thought to refuse, and he tremblingly pulled a silver thread out of his own mind and proceeded to put it in the vial right in front of Lily's eyes.
Lily put the vial away, and she turned towards where the fireplace is while leaving behind one last sentence.
"If Wormtail finds you next time, you should know what to do."
Selwyn answered meekly, but in his mind, he didn't consider it at all, he thought that Lily definitely wouldn't easily let go of the handle she had in her hands and that he himself was perfectly capable of obliging both sides for a while, waiting to see if Voldemort is really the king of the world, if it's just a case of thundering without lightning, listening to it alone, then he can just as well be a good pureblood who turns back to his own country by turning back to the light.
And just as he was thinking that, Lily who was just about to sprinkle Floo powder into the fireplace saw the fireplace, which had been long since extinguished in the summer, and whose ashes had all been cleaned up, suddenly burst into green flames!
Lily reacted instantly, and she made a split-second decision to aim her wand at Selwyn, who was still staring blankly before the green fire had completely formed a human form.
"Imperio!"
In the next second, Selwyn's entire body was reduced to a puppet on Lily's strings, his tortured and sweaty wife beside him completely stunned, and Lily, having taken control of Selwyn, aimed her wand at her, signalling for her to get out of the living room immediately.
At that moment, the green fire in the fireplace had completely taken shape and a man who looked like a fat rat appeared in it.
He scanned the area with his mung bean-like eyes, making sure that there was no one else around before looking at Selwyn, who was acting as usual.
"I'm sure you've seen the news, Atlan."
Selwyn said with his usual expression.
"It's hard to not know even if I don't want to know about something this big, you guys actually managed to rescue all the people from Azkaban."
"There's nothing we can't do under our lord's leadership." Wormtail's voice sounded smug, "Now that all of our people have been brought out, the lord ordered to summon you all to start his great cause all over again!"
"Really! That's great! When can I meet our lord?"
"Tomorrow night, at the Lydford Gorge in Devon where the Dark Mark is illuminated, our lord will summon you all there."
"I will keep that in mind, will everyone else be there as well?"
"Hmph, there are some who have forgotten their loyalty, so, of course, they won't come, and at that time our lord will realise who his true loyal followers are."
The flames in the fireplace dissipated completely after Wormtail finished his speech, apparently, he had completed his mission and ended the meeting.
Lily had never thought that she would be able to get such a great harvest today, she hadn't lifted the Imperius Curse from Selwyn right away, and now that she knew such a thing, of course, she couldn't let him off the hook so easily anymore, at least someone must keep an eye on him until tomorrow night.
Making an immediate decision, Lily then ordered Selwyn to Apparate to the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade.
Aberforth's identity was certainly no secret to Lily and Jon, and everyone else in Selwyn's family would be under her control until after tomorrow night when she would release them from their bindings.
Once everything was taken care of, Lily immediately returned to Hogwarts and found Dumbledore, who was still in the Room of Requirement researching with Jon, and told him exactly what had happened before.
"That's a good opportunity." Dumbledore's tone carried some cheer in it, "Riddle who is a Horcrux won't have the same strength as his past self, instead he has no way to break through the limitations of the Horcruxes, even if he displays a great strength, as long as we destroy the Golden Cup, then there is no way for him to survive."
"And by taking this opportunity it's just perfect to also wipe out those hidden Death Eaters in the magical world." Jon chimed in, looking smaller again, having grown back to eleven or twelve over time, but now back to eight again.
"Will you be able to enlist support from the Ministry of Magic, Professor Dumbledore?"
"If the Minister of Magic is still Fudge I don't have that confidence, but with Rufus Scrimgeour coming into power this year, although some of his ways are more radical, his determination to confront Riddle is something that has never waned, so I can reach out to the Aurors."
Somehow as a result of Voldemort-driven deviations in this world, Fudge had stepped down from his position as Minister prematurely this year, and this event of course couldn't have come at a better time for Jon and the others.
----
Thanks for all your love and support.
Completed novel. Read all advanced chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!
Thanks for all your love and support.
Completed novel. Read all advanced chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!