The Dark Lord had returned!
No, more precisely, the Dark Lord had returned to the Death Eaters' new base, Azkaban!
Only, the Death Eaters who heard the news were not as delighted as one might have imagined.
When Voldemort appeared, he did not immediately concern himself with his followers' state of mind. Instead, he surveyed Azkaban, which had gained a faintly new appearance.
Using some of the old cells that had not been completely destroyed, the Death Eaters had rebuilt many small rooms. They looked rather ugly, but they were extremely sturdy.
As for the furnishings inside, they were naturally Muggle products Dusko had led them to "plunder." To be honest, they looked far more refined than the monotonous products of the magic world.
Most of the Dementors that had once surrounded Azkaban had been released by Voldemort. Outside, they matched wits with the Aurors and were then swiftly eliminated.
Only a few newly born Dementors now drifted aimlessly nearby. But this bit of fear did not even count as a tickle to the Death Eaters stationed here.
Originally, the greatest threat Dementors posed was the massive aura of despair they gave off when gathered in groups. Once they were scattered, although the range of their influence became wider, they were much easier for Aurors, the elite combat force of the magic world, to deal with.
But that had been Voldemort's goal as well. At the very least, quite a few ghost stories had indeed begun spreading across Britain.
The funny part was that, in order to act more conveniently, the Aurors had no choice but to disguise themselves as priests, exorcists, and the like.
Unfortunately, now that Dumbledore had decided to stop playing nice, such petty tricks aimed at bullying honest people could only add to the Aurors' achievements.
Yes, Voldemort had finally come back to his senses and deeply realized that if abolishing The Statute of Secrecy was Tver and Dumbledore's goal, then everything he had done so far had been helping them.
So he had to preserve his strength and strive to destroy the foundations of Tver and Dumbledore in the final decisive battle.
"Master?"
Bella watched the Dark Lord suddenly sink into thought and reminded him softly.
To be honest, although it was perfectly normal for the Dark Lord to wear a gloomy face, this was the first time she had ever seen him look so grim that he even seemed somewhat worried.
"Nothing."
This news had been so unbelievable that Voldemort had lost control for a moment, but he quickly adjusted himself.
"Where is that Dusko? Doesn't he often lead you out on missions? Why don't I see him?"
Although Voldemort spoke lightly, Bella understood at once that he had definitely not come back this time to reassure everyone.
"Dusko actually only eats and sleeps here occasionally. Most of the time, he's gathering intelligence on the Ministry of Magic…"
Voldemort nodded.
It was something of a coincidence, but only Rookwood and Snape knew he had come to Azkaban. If even that news could leak out, he might as well surrender.
"But I heard that much of the intelligence was provided by Amycus and Alecto?"
Bella's heart tightened.
The Dark Lord had shown his thorough grasp of the situation here the moment he returned. Clearly, he was not as indifferent to this place as everyone had thought.
At that realization, Bella immediately lowered her head respectfully.
"That is true, Master. But after confirming the targets, we still needed to grasp the movements of the Aurors and the traitors before we could act safely."
"Heh. Intelligence…"
Voldemort gave a cold laugh.
As the conversation continued, the scattered Death Eaters also learned of the Dark Lord's return and quickly gathered in a small central square.
Of course, there was no actual square here. It was just that the central area had taken the heaviest damage back then, and Marvolio's attack had flattened it by force.
Voldemort and Bella walked into the center of the Death Eaters at just the right time.
"Master, not only did we escape the Ministry of Magic's tight defenses, we also successfully dealt with several traitors and frightened the Ministry into panic!"
Amycus stepped forward to claim credit. Recently, he had been so proud of himself that he had almost forgotten the man before him was the Dark Lord.
But those words were practically salt rubbed into Voldemort's wounds.
Noticing that the Dark Lord's expression was wrong, Alecto quickly tugged at her brother's sleeve, trying to stop him from getting carried away.
"Master, Amycus and the rest of us have all obeyed your instructions. We hoped that when you returned, we could…"
"Are you certain your recent actions were all my instructions?" Voldemort slowly walked up to the Carrow siblings, staring at them meaningfully.
It was not impossible that they had truly defected. After all, a large number had already betrayed him, and two more would hardly matter.
It was just that these two clearly did not look very intelligent. Would Tver really recruit them just to use the Death Eaters' hands to remove the moles he had placed inside the Ministry of Magic?
That was not entirely impossible either.
Only, for Voldemort, who was short of manpower and would need even more in the future, accidentally killing loyal subordinates would not be worth it.
"Of course," Amycus admitted cheerfully.
"I personally planned the operation to punish those traitors. Even Dusko didn't want to act on such a large scale. It was all thanks to me that we managed to get rid of them!"
He still did not realize that he was hovering at death's door. He remained smug, but in Voldemort's eyes, that smugness looked more like showing off.
Showing off how successful his undercover work had been.
"So I should thank you, then?" Voldemort said through clenched teeth.
"No need for that." Amycus scratched his head and laughed foolishly, suddenly embarrassed. Alecto was pulling so hard on his sleeve that she was almost tearing it off, but still could not drag him back.
"I have one final question for you…"
Voldemort took a deep breath. One day, he would repay these humiliations a thousandfold.
"How exactly did Dusko save you back then? And what did he say to you?"
"I remember that very clearly." Amycus once again showed a smile that, in truth, was full of mockery.
"Very well. The organization has decided. You will be the fool and unlucky bastard!"
"???"
Never mind the Death Eaters, even Voldemort laughed in anger the instant he heard those words.
Although he had indeed suffered a great deal of bad luck, not even Tver and Dumbledore would dare call him a fool to his face.
In his eyes, Amycus's words were Tver showing off. Showing off how Voldemort had foolishly carried out so many plans, only for them all to pave the way for Tver and Dumbledore to abolish The Statute of Secrecy.
Voldemort's anger from all this time erupted in an instant. He no longer wanted to think about whether Amycus was truly a mole.
"Avada Kedavra!"
A clean, sharp flash of green light shot straight toward Amycus's face, freezing that smug smile forever in that second.
A faint trace of bewilderment still appeared in his eyes. But as his life faded, that confusion could only be taken to Death for answers.