The Future Will Be Better Tomorrow

The Future Will Be Better Tomorrow: Chapter Twelve

There was another official meeting, one with the Dark Lord again. The Dark Lord had ordered them to find some way to release Arthur Weasley in a dramatic fashion that would put Harry Potter and his friends in the spotlight again.

And after that, he paced around a little. Percy noted that Marcus was still under the tree. He seemed to be in a really bad condition.

"What is love?" The Dark Lord asked abruptly.

Percy felt a little shocked. After what everyone told him about the Dark Lord he certainly did not expect such a question.

"Or rather, why is it so important? Why does everyone need love?"

There was no reply. Percy had heard some rumours about the Department of Mysteries and how the greatest power was love.

"Oh well," the Dark Lord said. "Since none of you seem to know, let me ask another question instead."

"Who do you love?"

Was he supposed to reply? Percy wished that he could hide behind the other Death Eaters so the Dark Lord wouldn't pick on him.

"Avery? Tell me."

Avery didn't reply. The Dark Lord went over to him.

The thing about it was that Percy was standing next to Avery. But if the Dark Lord were going to do this alphabetically, then Percy would have enough time to think.

"Cordelia Whitfield? You love her?"

Avery nodded frantically, and he appeared to be very intimidated. Not that Percy wasn't.

"Crabbe?"

"My family, sir."

"Your family? Your wife and your son, you mean?"

Crabbe nodded.

"Just like all the other fathers in here."

"Dolohov? What about you? You don't think you love anyone, do you? You just love the thrill you get from doing horribly reckless acts."

"Yes, Master."

He went over to Goyle, who said that he loved his family too.

From the tone he used, the Dark Lord seemed to be scoffing at the Death Eaters.

"Jugson?"

"Emmeline V-Vance?"

This was the first time Percy had ever heard Jugson say a word. And who was Emmeline Vance anyway?

The Dark Lord laughed, moved up to Bellatrix, then said, "Here's where it gets interesting."

"Bella?"

"You, my Master."

Percy wondered if he could just invent anyone for an answer. The Dark Lord didn't ask any of the previous Death Eaters any further questions. Or should he just follow Bellatrix?

"Rabastan?"

Percy was expecting an answer similar to Bellatrix's, but the Dark Lord answered for Rabastan.

"Oh, another adrenaline junkie?" He scoffed. "I think I have fair number of liars here tonight."

But he left Rabastan alone, and moved on to Rodolphus.

"Bellatrix."

And the Dark Lord burst out laughing, in his usual high-pitched villainy manner.

"Walden?"

"Oh, sorry for asking, I think you prefer people dead, don't you?" The Dark Lord finished for him.

If that was supposed to be a joke, it seemed like a really cruel one, and no one was laughing.

"Malfoy?"

"Truthfully, it would be Draco and Narcissa, my Lord, although the love I feel for them is different from the one--"

"Enough, Malfoy. Do you think I don't know what you mean?"

Lucius fell silent.

"Mulciber?"

"Edna Copperfield?"

"Nott?"

"Theodore?"

"Wormtail?"

"Y-you, master."

"Pucey?"

"My parents?"

"Rookwood?"

"Amelia Callaghan."

"Travers?"

"My family?"

"Weasley?"

Percy was at a loss. Did he love anyone? Not enough for him to name. He considered lying, but before he could answer, the Dark Lord answered for him.

"Percival Weasley, too selfish to love someone else, are you?"

Percy expected the Dark Lord to pick on him some more, but he didn't.

"Who can tell me which one of you I love? Or maybe love's too strong a word for me to use. But there is one of you I think of as my best servant so far."

Silence everywhere. Somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted and the leaves rustled.

"Malfoy. Who do you think it is?"

Lucius took a while to answer, and when it came, it sounded somewhat reluctant.

"Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Mulciber? What about you?"

"Bellatrix?"

"And you, Wormtail?"

"B-Bellatrix?"

The Dark Lord paused for a moment, as if to think.

"Bella? Who do you think it is?"

It seemed to stump her. If she said it was herself, she might seem overconfident, but who else was there?

"Whomever you find worthy, my Master."

The Dark Lord laughed.

"Well, this servant has shown a lot of dedication towards me. I think that leaves out most of you."

And the Dark Lord laughed again, this time at the irony of the situation.

"More than fourteen years in Azkaban and not once did this person ever give up hope on me."

The Dark Lord paused some more.

"Such devotion. This person was the only one I owled in Azkaban, to say that I would be coming soon."

The suspense was killing Percy. And so was his aching back. But of course he couldn't complain. It would be suicide to do so.

"There is a reason why I owled only one person. Because this person would tell all the others for me."

"Rodolphus Lestrange."

And everything, even Nature, went still. Was the Dark Lord asking Rodolphus about his opinion on the matter? Percy shifted uncomfortably.

"Why? Why Rodolphus?" The Dark Lord turned around to face the others.

"He is the only one here who has never failed me," the Dark Lord answered. "And no, not because he refused to be in charge of anything." The Dark Lord turned to face Malfoy.

It didn't make sense to Percy, and his feet were killing him.

"And really, he doesn't get the love he deserves from the people he loves."

Then the Dark Lord laughed maniacally, so much so that one couldn't tell if he meant anything he said just now.

"Surprised, aren't you?" He said to Bellatrix.

Percy thought that she must have felt so horrible. And Percy was all the more confused about how the Death Eater organisation worked.

"And yes, just like I had predicted, what a lot of liars I have here," he said, looking at Rabastan.

The Dark Lord then went over to Marcus.

"Go back to your place," he said with a sneer.

And with that, he dismissed them and went inside the house.

There was a commotion, and Bellatrix stomped off. Several Death Eaters patted Rodolphus sympathetically on the shoulder. Some went over to Marcus, and Adrian asked if he was all right.

Marcus looked up at them, smiled weakly, said no, and fainted.

*

No one was more confused about the entire incident than Rodolphus Lestrange. He didn't understand why the Dark Lord picked him. Also, he was indeed very insensitive towards Bella.

But at least Bella stomped off in a hurry, so Rodolphus wouldn't have to deal with the awkward situation outright.

But it really didn't make sense! And it only made things between them worse.

Rodolphus looked around for Lucius or Rabastan. He needed to some form of cover when entering the Malfoy Manor, or he would deader than--nothing could be deader than Rodolphus Lestrange right now.

But Lucius or Rabastan was nowhere to be found. Feeling slightly disconcerted, he plucked up whatever courage he had left and went home.

Or rather, the Malfoy Manor. After their breakout from Azkaban, the Lestranges have been putting up with the Malfoys.

Rodolphus knocked on the door tentatively. No one answered. He tried to open it, but it was locked. Rodolphus went to a window, and tried peering in. There was a lively fire in the fireplace, but the living room was empty except for several house elves sweeping the floor. He tried to catch the house elves' attention, to no avail.

A chilly wind blew past. Rodolphus pulled his robes tighter around him, and tried tapping on the window again. It was useless to use magic to break into the Malfoy Manor; it would just tip the burglar alarm and their guard dog would chase after you.

Eventually Rodolphus decided to give up waiting, and made his way to Liverpool to look for Antonin. But Antonin wasn't at home.

Rodolphus wondered if the whole world was against him. But it wasn't his fault that the Dark Lord decided out of the blue to announce that he thought that Rodolphus was his 'best servant'. Rodolphus was greatly misunderstood.

And so he walked about Liverpool for a while, taking in all the Muggle sights. Then it started to rain on him. The world was against him after all.

It was late in the night, and Rodolphus had nothing to do. Then he remembered something about the album that Marcus gave him for Christmas. It was a Beatles record. Weren't the Beatles from Liverpool?

Rodolphus remembered the conversation he had with Marcus during the Christmas dinner. Wasn't there some club in Liverpool to do with the Beatles? Rodolphus wished that he had a better memory. He desperately needed somewhere to go.

Rodolphus stopped some random person in the street and asked about the Beatles. The person looked at him as if he was an escaped convict, and then said Matthew Street before hurrying off, occasionally turning his head back to check that Rodolphus wasn't following him.

Rodolphus then realised that he still had his Death Eater robes on, much to his horror. The Dark Lord would butcher him to pieces for sure. He removed them, so that he was just wearing his shirt, jumper and trousers.

It was still raining, and it struck Rodolphus that removing his robes was a bad idea. They could pass off as a mackintosh of some sort. Now all his clothes were soaked in rainwater as well.

He was holding his robes in an odd sort of bundle, and he must have looked very ridiculous indeed. But he couldn't care any more about how he looked and so he set off to look for Matthew Street.

Eventually he did find The Cavern Club, but when he entered it he found that everyone was dressed in a very different manner compared to him. And it was rather noisy. He felt very out of place there, and left after a while.

Also, he received many odd looks from others because of the bundle of robes he was carrying. He decided to drape them over his shoulder, but when he walked past the shops and caught his reflection he realised that they made him look like an old granny so he held them in a bundle again. He tried to fold them into a more inconspicuous shape, but the robes kept touching the ground.

Eventually he gave up trying to fold them and held them in a bundle again. But he still could not shake off the feeling that everywhere, people were looking at him. He went back to Antonin's place, and pressed the doorbell.

There was no response, and Rodolphus decided to sit on the doorstep and wait. He was soaked to the bone, cold and hungry.

Then the door suddenly opened and he fell backwards. Antonin had opened the door, and was very surprised to find him there. He invited Rodolphus in, and offered to lend him some clothes to change into.

When Rodolphus went into the bedroom to pick out the clothes he found some unknown man hiding beneath the covers looking at him. Feeling somewhat disturbed, he went into the bathroom to shower and change.

When he came out Antonin gave him a spare pillow and blanket and told him to make himself at home.

For the rest of the night Rodolphus lay on the sofa unable to sleep, initially from the noise, then from worrying too much.

*

The next day Rodolphus sat up immediately at the first noise he heard. Antonin came out of the bedroom to find Rodolphus sitting bolt upright, and told him that it was still early.

Rodolphus looked at the clock, to find that it was nine in the morning, and practically screeched, "Early? You call this early?"

His entire schedule for the day upset aside, Rodolphus was relatively calm. By his standards, that is. He leapt out of the sofa and ran to the door, then ran back to collect his still-drying clothes and ran to the door again then realised that he forgot to fold the blanket so he dumped his clothes aside and began to fold the blanket.

All the while, Antonin was watching him with an amused look on his face.

"Don't you want breakfast?" He asked Rodolphus.

Rodolphus appeared to be very confused for a moment, then asked what time it was again.

He looked at Antonin, then at the door, then at the pile of clothes on the floor.

He took a few deep breaths, and said, "OK."

Antonin laughed for a moment, until Rodolphus gave him a somewhat murderous look.

Antonin looked into his fridge, and announced that he only had cornflakes and milk. And some leftover noodles, jam biscuits and muesli bars.

Rodolphus settled on the jam biscuits and tea.

Halfway through breakfast the man in the bed from last night popped out of the room, and upon seeing Rodolphus he looked scared and ran out of the door.

Rodolphus wanted to ask Antonin who he was, but he knew better.

After breakfast Rodolphus insisted on helping to clean up, and while they were washing the dishes Rodolphus began to criticise Antonin on his lack of proper cleaning.

Antonin got sick of listening to Rodolphus after a while, and tried to make him leave.

Eventually Rodolphus did, but not after some nagging.

He went back to the Malfoy Manor, and to his delight, Lucius opened the door for him. Rodolphus decided to tell him about how he was unable to enter the night before. Lucius replied that it was Narcissa, who upon hearing that there was potential trouble in the Lestrange family, decided to lock everyone out.

"So Bella isn't here?"

Lucius shook his head. Rodolphus sat down in a chair, and decided to read the papers.

But then, he kept thinking about where Bellatrix could be, and what she was doing.

"And Rabastan? Where is he?" He asked abruptly.

"Out, too."

Rodolphus returned to reading the papers. And about all the horrible accidents that happened. And his imagination started to run wild.

No, he told himself. No, they're old enough to handle matters by themselves. But then it made him wonder why none of them had come back yet. And he started to worry again. But then he was always worrying for nothing, so he shouldn't bother. But what if this time something did happen?

He tried to calm down, and think rationally, but the more he tried, the more panicked he became because he couldn't calm down. Also because he realised that all this panicking did nothing good to his nerves and that he might have an early death from panicking too much.

He became very fidgety, and looked at the clock. Five more minutes. If they don't come home for five more minutes I will go look for them. He fidgeted more. The second hand was moving too slowly. Was there something wrong with the clock? He asked Lucius what the time was. Lucius checked the clock, but then Rodolphus told him to check his watch. Lucius gave him a suspicious look, but told him the time anyway, and it was no different from the clock's.

Rodolphus then thought about how he should get one of those clocks that told you where people were. He remembered suggesting it to Narcissa last year, who argued that it was unnecessary. Rodolphus made a note to get the watch version, which came out this spring.

"Lucius darling? I'm sorry I wouldn't be able to attend the meeting with Cuthbert Mockridge today. I will be going for the fashion show in London."

Lucius gave a nod, and the moment his wife was out of earshot he began to complain to Rodolphus.

"I don't understand why she has to go to all these fashion shows. Honestly, some of the things they wear are just utterly impossible for practical use. Did you see the winter collection at Gladrags? Ridiculous, I tell you, and she bought those boots for me. They are what, worse than medieval torture? They are clearly meant for disfiguring one's feet. And did you see the coat she bought?"

Rodolphus wasn't listening. He was too busy staring at the clock, hoping for the hands to move faster, and imagining what Bellatrix and Rabastan could be doing in this time of the day.

Usually Rabastan was out and Bellatrix would occasionally go shopping with Narcissa. Rodolphus noted that today seemed no different than any other, but after last night, who knew where they were at this moment?

And so Lucius was venting his frustrations to no one and Rodolphus was being overly paranoid.

At eleven o'clock, fifty-nine minutes and ten seconds, Rodolphus could stand it no longer and jumped up abruptly, and his sudden action shocked Lucius out of his mindless rambling.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lucius asked, somewhat ruffled to discover that Rodolphus hadn't been listening all the while.

"Out," Rodolphus answered impatiently and zoomed out of the door.

Lucius went back to reading the 'Wizarding Economist'.

The moment Rodolphus went out of the Manor he didn't know where to go. So he decided to run through the daily schedules of Bellatrix and Rabastan. But then he remembered that this wasn't any usual day, and that something might have happened to them.

Then he spent some time deciding whom to look for first. But he realised that he must have wasted so much time trying to decide whom to look for.

And at the end of it all, he realised that he had completely no idea where they could be. But he still had to look for them. He went to Diagon Alley first, to see if they were in any of the shops.

While walking he spotted a very old 'WANTED' poster on a lamppost, and was reminded that they were still wanted people. So Bellatrix and Rabastan wouldn't really be in Diagon Alley, would they?

Neither should he, to think about it. But the people seemed to have forgotten about them specifically. The people all went 'Catch the Death Eaters!' and 'Put them in Azkaban!' and 'Give them Dementors' kisses!', so much so that they seemed to have forgotten how they looked like. Also, the only pictures the Ministry had of them were really outdated, and Rodolphus took some comfort in that fact.

But what if someone recognised him? He looked around Diagon Alley. No one seemed like they recognised him. Then he realised how conspicuous he was acting, and left the place as soon as he could.

He considered going to Hogsmeade as well, but once again, realised that they weren't likely to be there.

Then the address of one place came into his mind. Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Bellatrix's parents had died while she and her sisters were still young, and they had gone to stay with their cousins at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. And when Rodolphus got married to Bellatrix, her uncle had said that as long as your name was on the family tapestry the house would always be open.