Chương 65: Chapter 31: Virtual Healing
"Where are they?!" Augusta Longbottom demanded as she almost erupted from the Floo. "Black told me that they were here!"
"Welcome to The Pottery-" Jor-El began, only to be interrupted by her.
"Where! Are! My! Son! And! Daughter! In! Law?!"
"They are currently safe, Regent Longbottom." Jor-El replied calmly. "Would you care to see them?"
"Of course I want to!" Augusta snarled. "Why do you think I came here?"
"Very well, Regent Longbottom." Jor-El stated, then a bright light flashed.
.
"Urgh, what happened?" Augusta asked as she opened her eyes, then she blinked and looked around. "And where am I?"
"Welcome to the Virtual World, Regent Longbottom." A familiar voice said and Augusta half-turned to see a surprisingly solid Jor-El looking down at her, a politely attentive expression on his face.
"Virtual… world?" Augusta slowly sat up and swung her legs off the odd bed she was lying on. "As in…?"
"A world that does not truly exist, somewhat similar in concept to a mindscape." Jor-El explained as he motioned for her to follow him. "Your son and daughter-in-law have awakened, although it will be several days before their bodies are fully healed and their mental processes are stable enough to allow them to leave this place."
"How are they?" Augusta asked, looking round at the oddly monochromatic buildings and illuminated lines that adorned them.
"With the assistance of the neurological-support programs, they are currently awake and fully aware, although removing them from here before their neural pathways stabilise will cause them to relapse."
Augusta simply gave Jor-El a long glance, then paused as he stopped beside a door.
"They await you." He said simply as the door seemed to break into glowing squares that shrank and vanished in less time than it took to blink. Augusta slowly stepped through and her eyes filled with tears of joy.
"Frank! Alice!"
"Mother!" Her son was the first to reach her, catching her in a hug which her daughter-in-law joined.
.
.
"These are the most incredible fakes that I have ever seen." Voldemort mused as he waved his wand above one of the bodies before him. "Homunculi which have been created by means that I could not even hope to guess at."
The five wizards behind him looked nervous and Voldemort turned to give them a benevolent smile.
"Do not be concerned, I do not hold you responsible for the fact that someone managed to get the Longbottoms out before you could get there. Why, the amount of preparation this must have taken proves that it was not your fault in the slightest, it just so happened that their plan and mine overlapped."
The quintet seemed to sag in relief without actually moving.
"Lindstrom, I must congratulate you in particular for your decision to not kill Lord Black." Voldemort continued. "Should Potter have gained the Black Lordship and a reason to use its power to the fullest, he could have done an incredible amount of damage to our cause."
"Thank you, My Lord." Lindstrom bowed.
"For now, place these in storage so that once our victory is attained, I can return to examine them further." Voldemort ordered and Grabthar lumbered forwards, effortlessly picking them up and slinging the limp bodies over his shoulders. "Excellent. Gregor, the wards were re-activated?"
"They were, My Lord."
"Then the only evidence that they have is the absence of the Longbottoms, which they will undoubtedly seek to conceal, so I do not believe any of you need fear a visit from the Aurors. Gentlemen, you have proved yourselves to be more than competant and so, I give you my thanks. the fact that you did not manage to collect the true Longbottoms for me was in no way your fault."
"You are most gracious, My Lord." Kayden replied.
"There is a buffet set out in the dining hall, help yourselves to as much as you wish." Voldemort nodded to them as Grabthar returned. "For now, though, I have some research I need to do. You may go, and take my thanks with you."
The five filed out of the room, closing the door behind them and once the door was closed, Voldemort's face turned into a snarl.
"Damn you, Black!" He growled, gripping his wand so tightly that sparks dribbled out of the end, leaving burn marks in the carpet. "Again you thwart my schemes!"
A knock on the door caused him to inhale sharply, replacing his scowl with a benevolent smile.
"Enter!"
The door opened and Pettigrew crept in.
"Ah, welcome back, my Inquisitor. Are we ready for the attack on your former ally's house?"
Peter nodded with a triumphant smirk.
"Excellent. then let us depart."
.
.
"I can't believe that I got Obliviated." Sirius grumbled as he held a mug of hot tea. Beside him, Mirian Trout nodded in agreement while on the other side of the room, Remus Lupin and Amelia Bones were having a very intense discussion behind a privacy ward. Finally, Amelia gave a jerky nod and stalked off, leaving Remus looking exhausted but triumphant as he dispelled the charm.
"Well?" Sirius asked curiously. "You do know that I don't actually remember anything that happened today, right?"
Mirian gave Remus a worried look and the werewolf looked thoughtful for a long moment.
"Alright. Mirian, Sirius and I were sent to extract the Longbottoms because we had information about the kidnapping. You helped to replace them with the golems that the attackers took, the Longbottoms are currently safe at The Pottery. harry has a pair of House Elves, so they're getting good treatment."
Sirius and Mirian nodded in understanding.
"Since Harry has a Guardian Basilisk, no-one's going to get in to grab them." Remus added and Mirian inhaled sharply.
"He does? I thought that it was just a tall story!"
"Nope, he has a Basilisk who can speak english and can control her gaze." Sirius almost chirped. "She's got quite a sense of humor too."
Mirian stared at Remus, who nodded in confirmation.
"…wow."
"However, we do need to get back." Remus noted and Sirius promptly gulped down the last part of his drink, then paused, staring at his wrist. Pulling up his sleeve, he tapped the device he was wearing on his wrist.
"What is it, Jorel?"
"Sir, a group of wizards are currently attacking Grimnauld Place and are dismantling the Wards protecting it. At the current rate, the Wards will fall in three minutes."
Sirius' eyes widened. "What? But… Jorel! Tell Dobby and Kreacher to move the Black Library to The Pottery! I want every single book where it's safe, some of them are too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands!"
"Your command has been relayed, sir, and I have taken the liberty of assigning Gilligan and Herriet to assist. The library will be fully relocated in approximately one minute. What other orders do you wish to give?"
Sirius paused for a moment, then gave a sharp nod.
"Destroy the switching room linking to the flat. Once that's done, start moving my stuff to The Pottery and if there's time after that, move the portraits, tapestries and other furniture to the Vault. As soon as the Wards fall, I want the elves out of there! I don't care how much stuff is left behind, I don't want any of them hurt!"
"Very good, sir. The orders have been relayed."
"Mirian, I'm sorry, but I need to go." Sirius apologised as he rose from his seat, pausing to give Mirian a kiss on her cheek. "Remus, we need to get to Harry's place."
Remus paused for a moment, then nodded in understanding.
"Dinner tomorrow is still on!" Sirius called as he backed away from the table. "Of course, it'll be at Harry's place, but since I have a suite there and there are several guest bedrooms, it'll be fine! I'll come to escort you when you finish your shift!"
.
Voldemort strode through the wreckage of what had been the front door and looked around curiously.
"Odd." He mused. "I thought that Black would have more furniture than this. Homenum Revelio."
Nothing happened and Voldemort looked slightly confused.
"How unexpected, I would have expected Black to have returned here to try and work out what had happened to him. Bombarda."
The Floo shattered and Voldemort nodded in satisfaction.
"Inquisitor, let us claim the infamous Black Library for our cause."
"It's this way, My Lord." Peter scrambled up the stairs, holding his wand ready to deflect any attacks. Reaching the top, he opened a door, then froze as Voldemort waved for his other followers to check through the house.
"My Lord!"
The near-panic in Peter's voice caught Voldemort's attention and he used the special greaves, belt and bracers he wore under his robes to fly up the stairs, touching down just beside Peter.
"What seems to be the…? Oh."
The empty shelves of the library almost seemed to mock them and Voldemort fired an area-effect illusion-dispelling spell into the library, but the shelves remained empty.
"This is quite annoying." He finally said, his voice demonstrating the apparent calm of one who was actually enraged. "Between the old fool finding Salazar's library in the Chamber and now the Black Library gone to who-knows-where… Peter, if you were that mangy mongrel and you wanted to keep something safe, where would you put it?"
"Probably Gringotts, My lord." Peter replied, then he frowned. "Or the Pottery, now it's been rebuilt."
"That would make sense." Voldemort agreed. "Potter has two House Elves, as does Black, between them, they could easily have moved the entire library and more while we were still dismantling the Wards. Very well, let us claim whatever remains and then leave, destroying this place as we do so."
"Yes, My Lord!"
.
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"Sirius! Sirius?"
"In here, Moony!" Sirius called back as he stood staring at the piles of trunks filling nine-tenths of his suite. "I don't know where I'm going to sleep tonight, the elves did a far better job than I expected."
"How does them doing a good job mean that… oh." Remus trailed off as he appeared in the door and took in the solid block of trunks and storage crates. "Oh my. You certainly have a lot of stuff, don't you?"
"Fortunately, yes." Sirius agreed, his eyes still fixed on his collected items. "Jor-El, what's the status of my old house?"
"On fire, sir." Jor-El replied. "I have alerted the fire department."
"You going to rebuild?" Remus asked and Sirius shook his head.
"No, still have too many bad memories of that place. I think I'll buy some land nearby and have a new mansion built, one with a deep basement and… Remus, I need you to find out who owns the land behind the Pottery and see if you can buy it."
Remus froze for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Alright, Padfoot. What sort of mansion do you want?"
"I think I'll have Jor-El help me design it." Sirius mused. "Something apparently smaller than this place, though. I don't want to overshadow my dogson."
Remus gave Sirius a sideways look, then shook his head. "You and your addiction to dog-puns."
"Hey, I'm being Sirius!"
Remus face-palmed.
.
Bellatrix squealed in joy as she saw how her room in Riddle Manor had been redecorated.
"I hope you like it." Voldemort said, smiling at how she had spontaneously seemed to revert to being a young girl.
"I love it!" Bellatrix sang as she dived onto the bed and rolled over, then scrambled off it and opened the wardrobe. "Yay! All my old clothes are here! And Mr Snugglyslaughter!"
Voldemort's eyebrows shot up at that last statement, then his smile returned as Bellatrix pulled out a Cerberus Plushie.
"Mummy spelled him for me." Bellatrix giggled as she hugged it. "If anyone without magic tries to hold him, he'll attack and attack and attack! Isn't that just amazing?"
"Your mother certainly had quite the sense of humor." Voldemort replied. "While you get re-acquainted with your belongings, I've got a meeting to get to. I'll see you at dinner."
Bellatrix nodded, but most of her attention was on her toy chest. As Voldemort walked down the landing, he heard her voice almost squeeing in joy.
"Yay! My Model Muggle Torture Chamber is here! And the muggle victim's fully charged so I can eviscerate him and chop him up and then restore him so I can do it again and again and again…"
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