The Nightmare Man

Chapter Nineteen

When Voldemort visited the Nightmare Lord again he was at least sitting up, surrounded by papers and…

"Is that a heart in a jar?" he wondered, pointing at said jar that was nestled close to Harrison's hip.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"A few of my Inferi presented it to me," Harrison replied as he poured over a map. "A get-well present, I think it was rather sweet of them. Elise wasn't as amused."

"Let me guess; she was the one who had to change your sheets?"

"I insisted it was fine, but oh no, suddenly she's developed some sort of common sense and wants fresh sheets," he said and rolled his eyes. "She's perfectly well aware of how often I've slept in a bloodied bed."

"Did you kill someone in it before it?" Voldemort wondered.

"Merlin, no. I just didn't bother taking a bath before bed. Messy days… you know, I might be having some troubles getting into Hogwarts now."

"You do?" Voldemort came closer. "I thought you could control the wards."

"The old ones, yes. But rescuing Harry in that dramatic manner will most likely tell Dumbledore a few things, including the fact I can pass through the wards. He's probably put new ones up to try and stop me from coming in again."

"We can break through it," the Dark Lord said.

"Yes. He could also have tried to make the old wards reject me."

"But you made them!"

"Yes again, so he probably won't be as successful as he would want to be. It'll be fine, though. If the wards won't obey me, I'll make the castle hear me and then obey me if she knows what's good for her students."

"The castle is a building, not a sentient being."

"She's not strictly alive," Harrison admitted. "She is… aware. I noticed it when the four founders first started building her. Already then she was more than just rocks and rooms and corridors. She was something that made me feel safe. Why do you think everyone feels safe in her? Because she wants them to be safe."

"Oh… I never considered it that way."

"She's not always successful, mind. People do get hurt inside of her. Hogwarts is aware but not always fast. Sometimes I got the feeling that she sleeps a lot. There was this lulling sensation, an unexplained tiredness… ever felt that?"

"Once or twice now that you mention it."

"Anyway, no trouble," Harrison said. "As I'm not allowed out of the bed I'm checking the maps over the school and the grounds. I'll be doing some tests. Yes, how are we doing on the invasion of the Ministry?"

"The plan is almost ready. I have some back-up plans too. Right now the Ministry is unstable so it shouldn't be so hard to take over to be honest."

"Oh, yes, I would imagine it to be a bit messy there. How did they take the Minister's abrupt departure?"

"You mean his violent death?"

"Yes, what's wrong with calling it abrupt departure?"

"Unusually modest of you to just call it just that."

"Voldemort, how did they take it?"

"They're calling for your blood," Voldemort answered. "It was quite entertaining to listen in on actually."

"Too bad I missed it. I always love hearing people's opinions on me."

"They hate you."

"Yes. I love that. Hate makes one sloppy and stupid; I know that better than anyone."