章 28: 28
He was in my room, and I collapsed onto my bunk and sighed, spreading myself out on the blanket like a starfish. Yes, the outcome of this dash for the children was not at all what I had expected, but the fact that the old schemer was no longer a danger to me or even out of the world was a huge plus. But...
Previously, despite all of DDD's actions, I was under his patronage and protected from other schemer's, and now when everyone finds out he's missing, there will be a sharing of the pie in the form of what previously belonged to Dumbledore. And I, too, am among those that belonged to him, no matter how much I say or wish otherwise. Sure, I have goblins and elves and considerable influence over the Ministry of Magic, but that's unofficially, and officially, I'm just an ordinary orphan schoolboy, famous, and so I can be used to change or boost reputations. And a lot of people will want to take advantage of that, not to mention the fact that I'm a wealthy orphan, whose funds a lot of people will want to pocket. It's a good thing I'm concerned about a change of guardian, and Flitwick is quite happy in that role. And the latter is pleased with his ability to change his appearance to both human and goblin, not counting his old appearance as a half goblin. And in fact, besides his passion for spells, he has taken up transfiguration and fashion in both the Muggle and magical worlds, trying on new clothes and images. I wouldn't even be too surprised if he enrolled in acting classes. The prerequisites were noticeable.
After lying on the bed for a while, pondering the actions I'd have to take to keep all sorts of scheming and former Walpurgis Knights out of my way, I got up, removed a dragonfly from the cabinet, and moved toward the goblins in a flash of flame.
When I appeared in my office at Gringots, I waited for the goblins, who loomed up in a matter of seconds, almost rolling into the office and instantly standing up and straightening in front of me, awaiting orders. And when they spotted the dragonfly in my arms, they gawked their eyes out so hard I thought they were about to fall out.
- Lord... Huh? - and the goblin pointed at the dragon.
- This is my son. He hasn't been christened yet. He's too young to make decisions. He can't even speak yet. But you looked right and asked, now the fun times are about to begin and I need you to keep an eye on him in your caves. Be careful, the dragon, though still newborn, can do anything.
The goblin nodded, took the dragon carefully from my grasp and left the office. And I turned directly to the second goblin who had run in.
- Make arrangements and everything possible to lose as little as possible and gain as much as possible from the fact that Albus Dumbledore is gone. Not at all. Dead," the hobgoblin widened his eyes at this statement of mine and nodded like a chump.
- 'Understood, let's get to work now.
- Well, I'll leave that to your skill," I shrugged in reply and moved back to the castle. It was time to go to bed, because tomorrow was going to be a busy day...
Retreat. Voldemort in a new body
As the strange Elf led me down the corridors to my suite, I whistled as I stepped inside. High ceilings, expensive parquet flooring, and equally expensive furniture. And as I realized further on, my entire living space was now in that style. The only pity was that the huge, two-metre-high windows were an elaborate illusion. They could show anything I wanted and even transmit the sounds and temperature of what was being shown behind it. The window was now showing the clouds below, the clear blue sky above and the slopes of the majestic mountains.
First Minnie took me to the bathroom and made me (Me! Dark Lord!) wash my hands before eating. And when I tried to resent it, I found myself gagged with a fresh bun. With honey... my hungry stomach wouldn't let me refuse it, which the elf took advantage of, washing my hands and drying them with a wave of her tiny palm.
Next I was taken to a huge hall with an equally huge fireplace, in which the fire burned brightly, warming the hall and making it cozy. Especially against the backdrop of the tall windows, which here were no less than six metres high and seven wide. And they, too, showed majestic mountain peaks covered with a perpetual cap of snow.
Next, dishes of food began to appear before me, and I could not refuse to fill my stomach. And then... I was made to head for the bedroom, which seemed tiny after the hall, but no, twenty squares isn't that small, especially remembering the pile of beds in the orphanage. Brrr. But after the sight of a dining room of at least two hundred square feet, this room would indeed seem incredibly small.
After putting me to bed and covering me with a blanket, the elf offered me only two things to do now that I am in recovery. Either read: books or newspapers, or textbooks. Or sleep. And this I have to do for a whole week, as I need to regain some body weight.
I am also prescribed massages, walks in the garden for no more than fifteen minutes, plenty of food and sleep. Or you can read anything instead of sleep. But after a week I'll be given special potions to improve my metabolism, speed up muscle fibre growth, and a bunch of other potions at different times of the day, then I'll have physiotherapy under the guidance of some Naruto-sensei. Who Minnie spoke of with some sort of unhealthy gasp and admiration. And seeing the elf... or rather overseer, talk about him like that, it awakens my imagination and what I see in it stresses me out...
But reality put everything in its place. This Elf... she was pissing me off, pissing me off, and I was starting to wish for a wand and a Crucio spell, but... at the same time, her eyes were looking at me with genuine concern and warmth. And for some reason, it seemed like she didn't feel so good about herself, either, but that's Orders. In that moment, I suddenly realised that I would forgive this sweet creature anything...
Ehhh, where has the evil and ruthless Voldemort gone?
I don't want to be what I used to be. I don't even want to be that. I'm not all that white and fluffy, and I can do more than that, but I won't be a morally and ethically fucked-up freak either...
When I thought back to the day when I'd almost killed Potter with my own wand, I was so ashamed. And for the death of his parents, I wasn't happy either. But those Voices... just remembering what they'd thrown me into, the extremes and the madness, made me gnash my teeth in rage. And in my soul I was filled with rage and hatred for the man who had made me what I had become. And so I waited with great impatience for my lessons with the incomprehensible, but strange reaction of the housekeeper, especially when I learned that this strange sensei was able to knock out one of the raging dragons from the goblins with his bare hands and without any magic. An adult, strong and rabid dragon. No wand, no magic, no weapon of any kind. To be honest, even I admired this feat of his, but it also made me wag my finger at my temple and call him an idiot at the same time. At least until I got to know him. But once I did, I had to change my mind. And very, very much so.
And it happened like this.
It was a week of doing nothing, which almost made me climb the walls with boredom. But I had read a huge number of newspapers during my 'death'. Somewhere I hummed, somewhere I gritted my teeth, and at some points I was held in bed by a strange magic of an elf, because I was eager to kill some individuals. I thought I could do it, but the first lesson from Naruto-sensei showed me how incomplete I was as a fighter. I was embarrassed to admit that even in my prime I would have rolled me to the ground without too much effort.
And that's how we met...
Me, escorted by an elf, who I was in awe of, for I had never imagined them to be like that. Strong, brave, incredibly skilled, and sometimes so able to look so that even I, the former Dark Lord of Britain, became a silky and obedient boy. And I have no idea how they do it.
We walked down a long corridor and stopped at a small, double-leafed door leading to the very hall where I would be greeted by this strange, admired by THAT elf mage. And I didn't doubt for a moment that it was a mage, for a muggle could not, by definition, evoke such admiration in a magical creature.
The doors to the hall were opened by the elf, but she refused to come in with me, though I could see that she wanted it badly, but could not.
I shrugged and walked through the door to find myself in a truly huge room. The height of the ceiling was so huge that I felt like a bug. And the sheer size of the room commanded respect. As was the amount of stuff in it. And there were simulators of different types and purposes, an obstacle course in several variations, and real pieces of scaffolding of considerable size. And not only forests. There was an ordinary summer forest, then there was tundra covered with snow, savannah and jungle, lakes and even a piece of the sea... in which there was an island. Mountains and cliffs of considerable size and height. Now I can see why there is such a large size for a hall...
I looked around and did not see my teacher anywhere, but I did not see him. I was not able to see him until he put his hand on my right shoulder, which made me freeze. And not on my own, but paralysed.
- Lesson one, young man with a burning eye, always be alert and scan your surroundings. It will save your life more than once. And don't jump up and down to say wand, I'm aware that you have wandless magic. And don't get me started on your untrained body and such. Your magic is with you, and the fact that you haven't used it to scan space amuses me, because I've been informed that I will be training not just anyone, but the very real Voldemort, the Dark Lord himself. Admittedly a bit out of shape, but still. And what did I see when you walked in? A boy who was so relaxed that he didn't even bother to scan his surroundings...
He made me want to fall to the ground ashamed, but I didn't show him, I rolled over and tried to give him a Crucio, but... just in the beginning of the movement, a weak body let me down, and before I knew it I was caught in midair and bound with strange magic that was glowing with runes all over my body. Strange ones I'd never seen before.
- Boy, never try to dance in combat with a Shinobi. It's extremely dangerous to your health. Even fatal, I'm telling you. But... I can see you've got character, which means you're a good man to work with. Well, go on, then, it's time to give this body a fair amount of exercise to grow something satisfactory, not a wreck of anorexia. - And then, the strange blond, about seventeen years old, released strange blue strands of energy from his fingers, which jabbed into my lower back. And then his face lit up with a smile that sent chills through my body. And his pigmented moustache on his cheeks fluffed up militarily. And then... all hell broke loose. For I had no control over my body, this... sadist did. He used the very strings that he called the Living Puppet Technique to bend my body as he wished, pulling, kneading, forcing me to run and jump, work out on the machines and literally squeeze all the juices out of my body. And when my body fell down, unable to move, he would give me some potions, call me worthless material, make me eat, and then it would start all over again. It was the ultimate Hell.
I spent twenty-four hours with the fiend, until he decided I'd had enough, removed the strings from my energy and summoned Minnie, who moved my aching body to bed, washed it off and gave me a potion that made the pain go away in a few minutes, but left me drowsy and asleep. The next morning, after a shower and breakfast, I was sent back to the fiend and nothing helped. I simply couldn't escape or hide, as all my even initial attempts to do so were foiled by Minnie's strange magic, which didn't care about my barriers. And magic had no effect at all on the housegirl, which caused me to fall in with that blond monster in the Muggle war suit and the strange green waistcoat with the red maelstrom on his shoulder over and over again. And the workout came back each time, increasing in amplitude and exertion. I held on, but by the third day all I could do was grit my teeth and curse the trainer, who would dispel them with a smile and a swipe of his finger on the way up.
Still, this training was helping. I soon noticed for myself how much my body had changed. It became incredibly agile, flexible, strong, fast. And what a figure I had! And not an ounce of fat, just belts of lean muscle.
I cursed him, but began to respect him a few weeks later when I could see what he had done to my body. Personally, I admitted to myself that I could never have achieved what he did to me. I wouldn't have had the willpower or perseverance.
However, all this, including my hatred of the instructor, was forgotten when he showed me what it was for. And I, in the deepest shock, was only able, after the demonstration, to bow down to him and say.
- Thank you, Master... for taking me on...
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