Betrayal of the Black

thirty-eight

"The Order's got one thing right, then, eh?" said a squat man sitting a short distance from Yaxley; he gave a wheezy giggle that was echoed along the table.

Voldemort did not laugh. His gaze had wandered upward to the body twirling slowly overhead, and he seemed to be lost in thought.

"My Lord," Corban went on, "Dawlish believes an entire party of Aurors will be used to transfer the boy—"

Voldemort held up a large white hand, and Corban silenced himself at once, watching resentfully as Voldemort turned back to Snape. "Where are they going to hide the boy next?"

"At the home of one of the Order," said Snape. "The place, according to the source, has been given every protection that the Order and Ministry together could provide. I think that there is little chance of taking him once he is there, My Lord, unless, of course, the Ministry has fallen before next Saturday, which might give us the opportunity to discover and undo enough of the enchantments to break through the rest."

"Well, Yaxley?" Voldemort called down the table, the firelight glinting strangely in his red eyes. "Will the Ministry have fallen by next Saturday?"

Once again, all heads turned. Corban squared his shoulders. "My Lord, I have good news on that score. I have — with difficulty, and after great effort — succeeded in placing an Imperius Curse upon Pius Thicknesse."

Slumping in her chair slightly, Celestia found herself getting bored with the conversation now that it was moving away from Harry.

Politics, she understood, were important in war. In her opinion, though, they were boring; it was more Blaise and Pansy's strong suit. The reminder of her two friends that she hadn't seen in a month hit her in a wave of melancholic longing.

Sitting opposite her, Theo hit her foot under the table with his, dragging her attention to him. She sent him a small, discreet smile which he returned. They both returned their attention back to the discussion before they got caught not listening.

"Thicknesse is only one man. Scrimgeour must be surrounded by our people before I act. One failed attempt on the Minister's life will set me back a long way."

"That is true, My Lord, but you know, as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Thicknesse has regular contact not only with the Minister himself, but also with the Heads of all the other Ministry departments. It will, I think, be easy now that we have such a high-ranking official under our control, to subjugate the others, and then they can all work together to bring Scrimgeour down."

"As long as our friend Thicknesse is not discovered before he has converted the rest," said Voldemort. "At any rate, it remains unlikely that the Ministry will be mine before next Saturday. If we cannot touch the boy at his destination, then it must be done while he travels."

Again, Celestia's interest piqued now that they seemed to be returning to the topic of Harry.

"We are at an advantage there, My Lord," said Corban, who seemed determined to receive some portion of approval. Celestia found it quite embarrassing. "We now have several people planted within the Department of Magical Transport. If Potter Apparates or uses the Floo Network, we shall know immediately."

"He will not do either," said Snape. "The Order is eschewing any form of transport that is controlled or regulated by the Ministry; they mistrust everything to do with the place."

"All the better," said Voldemort. "He will have to move in the open. Easier to take, by far."

Again, Voldemort looked up at the slowly revolving body as he went on, "I shall attend to the boy in person. There have been too many mistakes where Harry Potter is concerned. Some of them have been my own. That Potter lives is due more to my errors than to his triumphs."