Lost Boy 05i

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Lost Boy

Interlude I

Lord Voldemort was not a patient man.  However, he needed to see the Blacks for two reasons.  One had to do with Lily Evans and her parentage and the other had to do with Hartwig Potter and his romantic aspirations.

He decided he would see Orion Black first.  The Wizengamot had always been an interest of Lord Voldemort’s and he should like to see how the laws were enacted there.

He was like a behemoth of darkness when he entered Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.  The entire house went silent.  He slipped into the Tapestry Room and took a seat in a large winged back chair, waiting for the inhabitants of the household to come to him.

Walburga Black was the first.  Her blonde hair was perfectly coifed on top of her head and she was wearing robes of ice blue.  She was the height of pureblood sophistication.  She approached Lord Voldemort and kissed the Gaunt Ring on his right hand.

“My lord,” she breathed.  “What have we done to deserve this great honor?”

“I need to speak to your husband, Madam Black,” he told her in a cold tone.  “I trust he is at home.”

“I shall fetch him for you, my lord.”  She clapped her hands and a wizened little house elf appeared.  “Fetch yoru master,” she instructed and the house elf nodded before popping away.

Orion Black walked into the room not two minutes later.  Unlike his wife, he had black hair that was clipped to his head, the same gray eyes, and he looked terribly like his son Regulus, who was often at Riddle House.

“My lord,” (it was all so repetitive) “how may I be of assistance?”

“There is an ancient law in the Wizengamot. It states that a wizard can only marry a witch.”

“Yes, my lord,” he answered carefully.  “I am not certain of the exact wording.”

“You need to become certain of the exact wording,” Lord Voldemort told him.  “I need it to be changed.  I need it to read that a wizard can marry a witch or a ‘wombed person’.”

Orion Black’s left eyebrow rose in confusion.  “A ‘wombed person’?”

“Yes,” Lord Voldemort told him harshly.  “Will this be a problem?”

“I do not see the distinction.”

“The only point,” Lord Voldemort told him icily, “is that I see the distinction.  I would see this law changed and I would see it changed swiftly.”  He stood imperiously.  “There is nothing else.”  He swept from the room, acknowledging neither of the Blacks, and left the way he had come.

He took the floo directly to Fairy Black Apartment.  He had never met Alphard Black before but he hoped that his reputation preceded him.

The flat was comfortable.  It was bright and done in yellows and golds.  He walked in and followed the magical signature to a small study, knocking on the door, he opened it and saw a wizard in his shirt sleeves with the same black hair as Orion.  “Mr. Alphard Black?” he inquired.

Alphard looked up in confusion and immediately startled.  He stood and picked up his robes, hastily putting them on, but Voldemort put up a hand. 

“Please be comfortable.—You are married, are you not?”

“I was, my lord,” he answered very carefully, he stood and approached Voldemort slowly.  “My wife Elnora died of a broken heart.”

Lord Voldemort made a sound at the back of his throat.  “I am sorry for your loss.  Is it because you lost your child?”

Alphard put out a hand for Voldemort to enter the hallway and he led the Dark Lord into the small living area.  “Not in the conventional way.  Stephagenia was taken.  Someone took her from the cottage hospital where she was born.  We tried to find her but were unable to.”

Voldemort took a seat.  He looked at Alphard.  He saw nothing of Lily Evans in him.  Carefully, he admitted, “I found a Lost Boy today.  She was born in January 1960.”

Alphard’s breath hitched.

“She looks like a pure Prewett.”

“Elnora was a Prewett.”

Voldemort nodded his head.  “She perhaps has the Black height.  Auburn hair, green eyes,” he paused.

“My mother had green eyes.  My eyes are a darker shade of the color.”

Nodding again, Lord Voldemort continued.  “She’s been living with Muggles.  She found an adoption certificate and took it to the Office of Public Inquiry.  She then went to The Wicked Stepmother and proved she was a sixth generation pureblood.”

“Where is she now?”

“Miss Evans is back with her Muggle family.  I would be accused of wizardnapping if I kept her overnight.”

“Of course,” Alphard agreed carefully, though he was clearly displeased at the idea.  Lord Voldemort didn’t blame him.

“With your permission, I will summon her tomorrow—here, ideally—I will make the introductions, and then if you are both of a like mind, we can do a blood match test.  I ask only one thing.”

Alphard leaned forward carefully.  “You wish to court her.”

“Not as you mean it.  While she would undoubtedly be useful to the cause, she is, after all, Head Girl, I meant that I should like to see her socially, if she is of a like mind.  She currently fancies a younger student, by the name of Hartwig Potter.”  Alphard Black made to speak but Lord Voldemort held up his hand.  “Mr. Potter is one of my niece’s greatest friends and I know that he does not return Miss Evans’s sentiments.  He has been quite vocal on the subject.  I can even have him come explain it to you if that is necessary.  His affections are engaged quite in another direction.—I should still like to see Miss Evans.”

“It is for a young lady to decide,” Alphard told him extremely carefully.

“With her family’s encouragement.”

Alphard nodded after a moment.  “I will still ask.”

Voldemort would impress the importance of the matter onto Orion Black if necessary.

“Eleven o’clock tomorrow?” he checked.  “I will arrive a few minutes early.”

“That is quite agreeable, Dark Lord,” Alphard agreed, standing.  “Could you instruct her to bring her trunk in case it should go our way?  I do not want her to have to go back to her kidnappers.  I will deal with them exclusively.”

“If you think that’s best,” Lord Voldemort agreed.  He stood and shook Alphard’s hand in a wizarding handshake. 

That was nicely done.

He returned to Riddle House and wrote the appropriate letter to Lily Evans.  Hopefully by this time the next day, she would be Stephagenia Black.