All I Have Left

Chapter Forty Eight

A man awoke with a terrible pain in his leg; which has been paining him worse than ever due to his old age. He got up out of bed and limped downstairs, his water bottle in hand, ready to head to the kitchen to fill up the bottle with warm water. 

The man filled up his bottle and looked up, noticing the lights were on upstairs and he immediately knew what had happened; the neighborhood boys had broken into the house again. 

He put down his kettle and limped upstairs, despite the stinging pain in his leg, and picked up a walking stick, heading upstairs. 

The front door of the Riddle house showed no sign of being forced open, nor did the windows. The man, Frank, limped around the house, arriving at the back of it, and approached a door that was completely covered in ivy. He used his key to unlock the door noiselessly and entered the kitchen.

He walked down the halls, remembering where each door was, until he reached the door that instantly showed where the intruders were. At the end of the passage was where a door stood, halfway open already, and Frank advanced his way over towards it. 

He was several feet from the door, and now he was able to see the fire that lit in the fireplace and he stopped once he heard a man's voice speaking; it sounded frightened and weak. 

"There is little more in the bottle, my Lord, if you are still hungry." The weak, high pitched voice said. 

"Later." Said a second voice, cold as ice and high pitched. "Move me closer to the fire, Wormtail." The second voice demanded. 

Frank then turned his right ear towards the door to better hear, the sound of a clink from a bottle being set down on a table emitting from inside of the room. The noise of a heavy chair being dragged across the room from inside sent shivers up Frank's spine, the hairs on the back of his neck rising as he caught a glimpse of the man.

He was wearing a long black coat, with a bald patch on the top of his head, before he disappeared out of sight again.

"Where is Nagini?" The cold voice asked. 

"I-I don't know, my Lord. She set out to explore the house, I think..." Wormtail responds, stuttering.

"You will milk her before we retire, Wormtail."The cold voice declares. "I will need feeding in the night. The journey has tired me greatly."

With Frank's brows furrowed, he pressed his ear to the door, hearing a pause before the first voice spoke again.

"My Lord, may I ask how long we are going to stay here?" Wormtail asks.

"A week." Said the cold voice, hesitating for a split second. "Perhaps longer. This place is moderately comfortable, and the plan cannot proceed yet. It would be foolish to act before the Quidditch World Cup is over." 

Frank was confused, and so he entered his finger in his ear, cleaning out earwax to make sure he heard things correctly. 

"The- the Quidditch World Cup, my Lord?" Wormtail asks shakily, and Frank dug his finger more vigorously in his ear.

"Forgive me- but I do not understand- why should we wait until the World Cup is over?" Asked Wormtail. 

"Because, fool, at this very moment wizards are pouring into the country from all over the world, and every meddler from the Ministry of Magic will be on duty, on the watch for signs of unusual activity, checking and double-checking identities. They will be obsessed with security, lest the Muggles notice anything. So we wait."