A Different Halloween

Chapter 4

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When Voldemort heard those words coming from the telephone handset, his anger knew no bounds. The wave of magic that poured out of him destroyed every single item in the house and blasted out all the windows. It was so powerful, it registered in the Scottish highlands.

Albus was in his office when all the alarms he had tied to the Potter cottage went crazy. The old wizard gave a wry smile, a magical discharge of that magnitude could only mean one thing. His plan had worked and the dark lord was dead.

He didn't think that anyone else would have the guile or conviction to turn the mutterings of a near squib into a self-fulfilling prophecy, desperate times called for desperate measures.

It had taken all of his Machiavellian manipulations to bring his scheme to fruition, but lady fortune had apparently just smiled on him. It took no more than a subtle hint for Black to quietly change the Potters secret keeper but the real challenge had been nudging Lily Potter to discover the sacrificial ritual. The muggleborn students didn't arrive at Hogwarts with the same sense of in-built respect and reverence for the school's headmaster that their counter parts did, Lily Evens was particularly sceptical. Only her overwhelming need to keep her son safe allowed Albus to steer her in the direction he wanted. If she had carried out the ritual properly, then her son would be alive and the dark lord gone.

This raised another issue though, Albus had long suspected that Voldemort had performed dark rituals in an attempt to escape death. Unfortunately there was only one way to prove this theory and killing Voldemort was easier said than done. With baby Harry now banishing the dark lord, Albus needed to take control of the weapon he had just created. Should Voldemort cheat death, he would come after the boy at the first opportunity. Albus was sure that, should this come to pass, he was more than capable of controlling any situation and turning it around to his advantage.

That was the future though, he needed to deal with the here and now first. He would dispatch Hagrid at once to the cottage and have him bring the child to Hogwarts, he would implement the next phase of his plan tomorrow. After all, it was Halloween and he so enjoyed the feast.
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