บท 410: Project: Heliopath

"I really ought to be thanking you, Miss Greengrass," said Augustus Rookwood, his gaze fixed on Astoria. "If it hadn't been for your efforts, the Dark Lord would have only succeeded in accomplishing one of his two goals in the Department of Mysteries tonight..."

"Huh?" Astoria blurted out in surprise. "How'd you mean?"

When had Astoria ever done something to help the Death Eaters? She'd been stuck inside Hogwarts for most of the year, so when could she have possibly had the opportunity, let alone the motive, to do such a thing? No matter how she thought about it, Rookwood's words didn't make any sense to Oleandra!

"You saved Broderick Bode from his botched assassination attempt at Christmas, didn't you?" Rookwood reminded her gently. "Allow me to explain; that moronic Macnair attempted to use the Imperius Curse to force an Unspeakable— Mr. Bode— to retrieve something very important to the Dark Lord from the Department of Mysteries. Alas, if he had only waited for my release, I would have told him that such an attempt was doomed from the start... At any rate, Macnair then attempted to erase the evidence that he had used an Unforgivable Curse on Mr. Bode— by killing him in his hospital bed— but luckily for us, he bungled that as well..."

"You needed something from him," Theo deduced. "Information, most likely— seeing as you needed him alive."

Oleandra's thoughts raced, as she tried to figure out what was going on. This room, filled with large vats, had once held more than a hundred Muggleborn. However, they were no longer here— leading Oleandra to believe that there had to be a reason as to why Voldemort had taken away the Muggleborn that he seemed to hate so much, instead of outright killing them.

"The Ministry went to the effort of collecting all of these first generation Muggleborn," said Oleandra thoughtfully. "If it was just to prevent them from breaking the Statute of Secrecy, then it would have been much simpler to just kill them at birth and be done with it. There has to be another purpose for keeping them here… or am I wrong?"

"How very astute of you," said Rookwood, as he slowly clapped his hands. "Indeed, Project: Heliopath isn't just about stopping our Wizarding Society from imploding due to the influx of Muggleborn— it's also about saving our world from the outside threat of Muggles."

A chill ran down Oleandra's spine.

"For hundreds of years now, preserving the Statute of Secrecy has been the Wizarding World's greatest priority," Rookwood continued. "Though, regrettably, nothing lasts forever. As Muggle society grows ever larger and more advanced, so do the breaches to the Statute of Secrecy grow ever more numerous and severe."

Rookwood took a deep breath.

"And so, faced with the inevitable fact that the Statute would eventually be broken irrevocably," he explained, "the Ministry decided that the collected Muggleborn would be used as weapons against the Muggles. Should the Statute of Secrecy ever be broken, Project Heliopath would be fully activated."

Rookwood splayed his arms out, as if to emphasize the scale of what he was talking about.

"Think thousands of magical operatives, all around the world; each implanted with false memories, trained from birth to dismantle Muggle society piece by piece— Muggle politicians and governments, the financial sector, the police, the army, religious figures," Rookwood bellowed. "Muggle society would instantly lose its leaders, preventing them from retaliating against the Wizarding World. They would be plunged into chaos, into anarchy!"

The Order of the Round Table's mission had been doomed from the start.

"…and we, the wise Witches and Wizards, would be there to step in and take control," said Oleandra in dawning horror. "Ruling above the Muggles, to save the Muggles from themselves…"

The Order believed that magic was humanity's birthright, that Wizards and Muggles ought to cooperate towards a brighter future— and that the only way to achieve this was to break the status quo and to reveal the existence of magic to the world.

But if the Wizarding World was ready to strike first, the very instant when the Statute of Secrecy would be broken for good… Then there would never be peace— the Muggles would never accept Wizards, if war was the way that magic was going to be reintroduced to them!

And even worse, the British branch of the Heliopath Initiative had already been fully taken over by Voldemort! He could declare war on the Muggles, and force the other Ministries of the world to show their hands; and then, he'd take control of Wizarding Society once their backs were turned to fight the Muggles!

"And it's all thanks to you, my dear," said Rookwood softly, turning to Astoria. "To fully activate the Heliopaths, a magical key phrase needs to be uttered before them. We would have been one short, if it hadn't been for you, Miss Greengrass… for each one of the Department of Mysteries' eleven Heads holds one of the eleven key words that make up the phrase!"

Oleandra had arrived too late— much too late.

The message that she had received from the Order of the Round Table, the one that had asked her to expedite the real mission to uncover the truth behind Project: Heliopath— it was a fake— sent by Voldemort.

As a master of Legilimency, Voldemort had easily sniffed out the spy at his side and discovered the ancient Order of the Round Table, as well as Oleandra's connection to it. He had used the Order's mission against her, giving her an extra incentive to accompany Harry to the Department of Mysteries to save Sirius— because once he obtained Oleandra, it would only be too easy to lure her sister out of hiding; the girl he suspected to be the Dark Lady.

As long as the Dark Lady stood by the Dark Lord's side, his eternal reign would be assured; he would never die for as long as she lived! He would only grow more powerful as time passed, due to his Basilisk bloodline, and he would eventually become unstoppable!

"It's not too late to join the winning side," said Rookwood gently, extending his hand towards Oleandra. "The Dark Lord highly values your sister— but you should know that his patience has its limits. You should keep in mind that you are expendable, Miss Greengrass." Rookwood's eyes flickered to Astoria. "After all, there is always… your replacement."

It was all over— Oleandra couldn't see a single way that this could end well. Voldemort and the Death Eaters had basically already won, so what use was there in resisting the inevitable?

"My sisters will never join you," Astoria piped up defiantly. "Never!"