The Raven and The Snake

Ariadne sat calmly next to her grandfather. She wasn't looking at the scene in front of her, her eyes unfocused as she stroked Antigone. To her left was Draco, pale and terrified, his eyes darting up and down, not seeming able to help looking at the thing swirling above them.

Barely even looking, she reached over the armrests to pat Draco's arm to give him some sense of comfort. He glanced at her sharply for a moment, his eyes a little misty. He softened, but was still unable to completely stop looking. The room was dim save for the light of the fireplace that backlit Lord Voldemort at the head of the table. Lucius or Bellatrix would normally have sat on his right, but Lucius had been severely demoted due to his frequent mishaps over the last few months. He sat a little sunken in his chair between his wife and son. His son now holding a higher position than he thanks to the completion of his task.

Ariadne was taking the seat on Voldemort's immediate left, the seat across from her was empty. Bellatrix was currently in labor, her face sweaty and her hair more untidy than usual next to Narcissa. She was breathing a little hard as the contractions continued, but she had absolutely insisted on being here for the meeting.

When Snape and Yaxley entered the room, Ariadne allowed herself to refocus. She looked over at her fiancé without emotion. Snape eyed the scene with his usual impassive expression, not showing any sign of distress as though the body hanging over the table were nothing more than an unimpressive decoration.

"You are very nearly late," Voldemort called to the men at the door.

He directed them to take their seats. Yaxley took his place, not far from the door while Snape swept past, brushing behind Ariadne to sweep into the chair on Voldemort's right. All eyes turned to their master now, save for Draco who still couldn't entirely help glancing up.

Snape was first to give his report. He had found the time in which the Order planned to remove Harry from his family's residence. There would be a substantial guard on the boy as the spell keeping him safe was about to lift. Once he left the Dursleys' for good, his last great protection was gone.

Yaxley attempted to interject, saying that he had slightly different information. His station was at the Ministry - quite useful for other occasions, but as the Order was well aware of traitors within the Ministry, hardly reliable on this instance. Voldemort's ruby red eyes fixed on Snape, reading whether or not there was anything Snape was hiding. Snape did not falter. He was too skilled. When those same eyes fell on Yaxley, he noticeably trembled as he relayed what he knew. Yaxley was determined to be helpful, but it was clear to all who had the best position among them. Voldemort was falling back easily on Snape's judgement. The others gazed at him resentfully, but Ariadne gave a calm smile. They would not have supreme power over the Ministry, but the Order no longer trusted the Ministry anyhow. If the Death Eaters were to grab for Harry, it was best to attempt it as he was traveling.

"I have been careless and so have been thwarted by luck and chance. Those wreckers of all, but the best laid plans. But I know better now," Voldemort hissed in his high, cold voice, turning his eyes upward toward the body. "I understand those things that I did not understand before. I must be the one to kill Harry Potter and I shall be."

Ariadne's smile twitched for a moment. Of course, this meant he intended to go with his Death Eaters. She was one of the only ones not to look down at the floor as a sudden loud wailing filled the room.

Voldemort didn't look away from the unconscious person floating above to reprimand Wormtail. "Have I not spoken to you about keeping our prisoner quiet?"

Wormtail scrambled from up from his seat at once, hurrying to hush the poor person below. Ariadne had to fight not to show her disgust. In the basement below their feet at this very moment was a most accomplished wand-maker. He had been the one to sell most of the wands present in this room.

Ollivander had been abducted from his store in Diagon Alley nearly a full year previously. He had spent all this time being tortured into a weakened state in the Malfoy Manor. It wrenched at Ariadne's heart to leave him in such a state, but he had proved to be very tough to break up until this point.

"As I was saying," Voldemort continued without waiting for Wormtail to return. "I understand better now. I shall need, for instance, to borrow a wand from one of you before I go to kill Potter."

Shock passed over the expressions of nearly everyone at the table. Ariadne had been expecting this though. While they all sat there looking as though Voldemort had asked them to chop off a body part, Ariadne slipped her own wand from her robes and held it over the table almost lazily, laying her palm flat and presenting her wand.

Voldemort grinned at her in a malicious way. His long-fingered hand reaching out to stroke her cheek in what might have been affection had it not been for his incapability to care for anyone. He did not want her wand. "Lucius, I see no reason for you to have a wand anymore." Voldemort turned to the defeated looking man.

It took Lucius a moment to answer and when he did, his voice crackled. "My Lord?"

Lucius's posture had visibly sunken. He was twice as sallow and grey as his son. All of his usual swagger gone and even his white-blond hair lacked luster. His eyes were bloodshot as he looked up at his master in fear. "Your wand, Lucius. I require your wand." Voldemort pressed.

Ariadne glanced down toward Lucius. She could see just under the table that Narcissa had reached for her husband. Though her face was blank and steady as Snape's, Narcissa was sitting stiffly.

At his wife's gentle touch, Lucius removed his wand from his cloak. Voldemort held it up, appraising it and comparing it with his own wand. When Lucius made in a small gesture as though he expected to receive the wand as a temporary replacement, Voldemort turned on him with a foul grin.

Voldemort acted as though he were bewildered as to why the Malfoy family had deteriorated. They were showing obvious discomfort now in their own home at the presence of their master and his followers. Ariadne pursed her lips, trying not to show any compassion toward her own extended family.

Malfoy Manor had once been a sanctuary of their own abundance. The garden with its peacocks strutting about, the many decorated halls and lounges, the large family portraits of the proud couple with their son. Now they had been demoted. Though this was their mansion, they'd been moved down the table, having even less clout than Ariadne was an illegitimate child of a cousin.

Antigone stilled on Ariadne's lap. A hissing was starting up from the floor just under the table. Nagini, Voldemort's own, much too large snake was moving between the many feet of Voldemort's followers, causing many of them to shudder. Nagini wound her way up her master's chair, moving sinuously. She laid herself across his shoulders, lowering her head for pets. He stroked her absently, his eyes still cold on Lucius's face. Ariadne was tasting bile.

"Why do the Malfoys look so unhappy with their lot? Is my return, my rise to power, not the very thing they professed to desire for so many years?"

"Of course, my lord. We did desire it - we do!" Lucius gasped out sharply while his wife and son nodded fearfully.

Bellatrix pushed herself to lean closer toward her master, her heavy frame in stark contrast to her willowy sister who was sitting stiffly in her chair. Her voice which had remained calm through the many hours of pain now constricted with emotion. "My lord, it is an honor to have you here in our family's house. There can be no higher pleasure."

Indeed, Bellatrix couldn't possibly seem to want anything more. She had seethed when Ariadne had taken her place so closely to their master. Ariadne tilted her head, wondering how close Bellatrix really was to childbirth at this point. "No higher pleasure..." Voldemort mused, turning his gaze on Bellatrix. "That means a great deal, Bellatrix, from you."

Bellatrix flushed with pleasure, her eyes welling with happy tears.

"No higher pleasure," he continued. "Even compared with the happy event that I hear has taken place in your family this week."

Bellatrix's brow raised and her lips parted in confusion. "I don't know what you what you mean, my lord."

"I'm talking about your niece, Bellatrix - and yours, Lucius and Narcissa. She has just married the werewolf, Remus Lupin. You must be so proud."