"Time is of the essence, Bellatrix. Remove your defenses and let me into your mind. I will see everything myself," I said, taking the Cup and its container.

Out of all my staff, I could only say this to the Lestranges and Crouch Jr. without destroying my reputation. Right now the situation demanded it.

I could have used a pensieve, but what if someone watched or stole the memory? Besides, I wanted to take a covert detour in Bella's memories and check how much she cared for her husband. This was the exact reason no one liked inviting people into their mind - analogous to leaving an acquaintance in your home alone for an hour. They may not steal anything but would hardly resist the opportunity to snoop.

I sat her in a chair, and she invited me in to make it less uncomfortable for both of us.

"Legilimens."

… Here I sit across from her and she is basking my attention… She, the proud keeper of my Fidelius, enters my home and is very surprised to find me practicing housekeeping charms… I needed older memories.

Bellatrix receives orders to retrieve the cup and a warning about an attack on her vault… She summons the family lawyer, he brings appraisers… They take an international portkey to the United States. Of course, we are all wanted criminals there as well, but since we do not conduct any operations or bother the locals, they don't bother searching for us. Bella's party enters the American branch of Gringotts and, after a mound of paperwork, travels to the English bank their via internal system. It made sense: goblins won't stand for aurors entering their territory, and the bank guaranteed the clients' safety inside their walls.

… Here Bellatrix under a glamour enters the main hall, followed by her escorts. Gorgeous candelabras, tall ceilings, goblins weighing and counting treasures… For a moment, Bellatrix switches to magical sight: convoluted patterns, bright colors, darting spots. Even I could not comprehend most of the Gringotts defense system.

"How may I help you, Madam Lestrange?" asks Bogrod, leading her to a private room.

"I wish to visit my vault," - replies Bellatrix.

"Do you have your key? Can you prove your identity?"

The goblins meticulously examine her key and wand, then circle around her with some tools vaguely resembling metal detectors.

"Are all these people with you, Madam Lestrange? They must wait here. Access to family vaults is only granted to family members and chaperones of underage heirs."

"Is there any possibility for bringing them with me? I have information that someone is targeting my vault to steal or destroy my property. They are here to assess the potential damages."

"Gringotts is impossible to rob. If there had been an attempt, naturally resulting in the thieves' deaths, we would have informed you."

"I must insist. I also would like for my vault to be opened in the presence of Gringotts bankers with a list of the vault's contents, curse breakers and official witnesses.

An argument… Signing of complaints, disclosures, permissions… After a couple hours of pushing parchment, they eventually agree that Bellatrix will go down with all her people, escorted by several goblins including Bogrod and Gorkras with their metal rattlers, and their human curse breaker employee.

They all get into carts and hurry down. A ride through the caverns at breakneck speed, passing through some glowing charms and a waterfall, and they are greeted by a Ukrainian Ironbelly. After a short dance with clacking gadgets around the dragon, the path is clear.

"As you can see, Madame Lestrange, your vault is perfectly safe. The Bank of Gringotts fulfills all obligations to its clients to the highest standards."

"I would like to retrieve something from my vault. Open it."

The key turns, Bogrod places his palm on the mechanism, and the giant door opens. But instead of neat stacks of gold coins and shelves filled with jewelry and antiques, they see one large coalesced mass. It looks as if a mad jeweler threw everything into a melting furnace and made an enormous shapeless blob of multiple metals. Only goblin-made weapons avoided this fate and now stuck out of the solidified blob, making it look like a deformed fantastical hedgehog.

"I think we need to assess the damage. And calculate the amount of my compensation," says Bellatrix.

I felt her suffocating fear for the Cup's safety.

Bogrod and Gorkras stand stupefied. The curse breaker fires off diagnostic charms. In a few moments, the goblins snap out, take out some analogs of two-way mirrors and rapidly spout something in Gobbledegook. Probably sounding an alarm.

The vault begins to fill with goblins. First, goblins in full armor with various melee weapons and some kind of staves. Then curse breakers and regular bank goblins. The dragon thrashes in glowing red chains that have dragged it into the far corner. The air visibly ripples with magic.

"Madam Lestrange, we are not sure what to tell you. The vault is not damaged. The defense systems have not detected any unauthorized entrances or breach attempts. It was last opened two months ago by a Gringotts employee, and everything was in order. However, there was a recent discharge of energy of unknown nature. Most of the vault's contents got melted and reduced to scrap metal. The only surviving items are goblin weapons and a small gold cup. The cup appears to be a very unusual dark artifact. I should also note that the cup's inspection prior to placing it in the vault determined it posed no danger to the vault contents. If our curse breakers are to be believed, approximately this past Samhain someone used the cup to perform a ritual, and the released energy caused irreversible damage to your items. However, the are no clues about the perpetrators' identities or how they were able to enter or exit the vault. The other theory is that the cup itself caused the blast, but it contradicts the laws of magic. But regardless of what happened, we take full responsibility for everything stored in the bank."

"I am taking the cup with me. Leave the rest as it is, for now."

"The item may be dangerous, it is not recognized by any of our…"

"This is my own problem."

"Additionally, we are required to notify your husband and launch an official investigation…"

"I have to go."

"… And we will be happy to conduct the investigation in close cooperation between Gringotts and the Noble House of Lestrange without undue attention from the press that would only stir up defamatory rumors…"

"Give me the cup. I need to leave now."

"We would like to discuss the compensation to the Lestrange family for the loss of your property and agree on the terms of our further cooperation-"

"The cup, please. For all the paperwork, contact my husband and lawyers."

"Right away. But in the interest of preventing similar incidents in the future, we would like to know the source that informed you of a possible emergency in your vault-"

"Thank you for the cup," says Bella, placing it in a screened container. "I am in a rush. My lawyers and appraisers are staying to discuss the compensation and all other matters. Direct all your question to my husband or Head of Family. I need a cart."

After getting back to the surface, Bella returns home through North America without incident.

But that was not all I watched. Subtly, without diverting from the Gringotts memories, I checked her loyalty. Impeccable. It was not even devotion, not fanaticism, but pure deification. I searched for the cause.

Hogwarts. Bellatrix Black with a crush on the Dark Lord - not romantically but as a rabid fan. Riddle was a rising political star, the heir of Slytherin, the pureblood standard-bearer, so she was far from the only one obsessed with the new leader. They meet in person after her graduation, the Dark Lord begins to court her, she gracefully accepts…

I remembered the rest myself. How could she know the Lord only wanted her for the Black family magic source? Tom could be very charming when he wanted and still looked like a human at the time. He was a welcome guest at the House of Black.

The Blacks had a certain well-earned reputation. I found many interesting books in their library, including the only other mention of horcruxes in the whole of England… Most of all I loved their family pensieve with centuries of memories of torture and muggle hunting…

… A quick, fervid affair with Bellatrix. One night together where Tom proves himself a great lover - it was hard to be anything but great when you could read thoughts.

My memory was crystal clear: even then, she was nothing more than a tool to Lord Voldemort. He had all the prospects for marriage: exceptionally strong wizard, the heir of Slytherin, at the start of a brilliant career, many followers not yet marred by anything illegal, his party steadily gaining votes… But as he studied the Blacks' books, he soon realized that even they would be unable to link his incomplete soul to the source and decided the game was not worth the candle… To avoid a conflict with the Blacks, Riddle left as gracefully as he could.

From Bella's perspective, her beloved says that being with her makes him incredibly happy, but he must choose between family life and making a real difference in the world. Go and be happy, Bella, while I dedicate my life to defending the cause of true witches and wizards…

Bellatrix' memory showed she bought it all. She was an adult and should have at least suspected something was not right! An emotional and impulsive adult - sure, but far from stupid. Did love rob her of common sense? Her admiration of the Dark Lord grew into love, love that never waned and turned into worship…

Then, quite an interesting story with her husband. Arranged marriages were common. So after her breakup with Tom, Bellatrix had no reason to refuse marrying Lestrange: young, rich, handsome, chivalrous - a great deal all around. And other than her Lord, all men were the same to her anyway.

But there appeared a pitfall. Why did most wizards look down upon marrying muggles? High chances of non-magical children. Wizards generally lived much longer than muggles- a strong one could easily push two hundred, and watching your children die from old age is not very pleasant. And in a world where power decided almost everything, magically weak children were guaranteed life-long hardships. Their top opportunities were a career in sports and paper pushing. So if you wanted a successful child, you needed a powerful spouse.

Purebloods ran into an additional problem due to their family magic sources. The Longbottoms' herbology, the Potters' artifact craft, the Ollivanders' wand sense, the Blacks' Dark Arts were not just the results of upbringing and accumulated knowledge but also specialized magical energy. A source was a double-edge sword. It fueled the family members' magic, but each had a distinct "flavor," so some families using the same energy for generations not only got better at their "trademark" magic but also worse at other types. Sometimes the differences made two pureblood families incompatible.

At the first glance, the Blacks -Dark and Battle wizards- should be ideally compatible with the Leatranges -Dark and Battle wizards. At the time, neither had rune and arithmancy specialists in the family, so they ordered the compatibility calculations on the side. Two independent calculations gave the green light.

During a magical wedding, the bride was usually disconnected from her family source and connected to the groom's. A simple ritual fueled by animals, customarily sheep. At the beginning of an extravagant ceremony, Bellatrix had been put through the ritual. The effect was unexpected: instead of a painless switch, the newest Lestrange was taken straight to St. Mungo's with neurogenic shock. To everyone's surprise, the Black and the Lestrange sources turned out to be "partially incompatible." Bellatrix woke up from a coma a month later, after both families spent an inordinate amount of money on her healing -damaged energy fields are no joke. She was successfully connected to the Lestrange source and eventually recovered but the damage had robbed her of the ability to bear children. To Rodolphus' credit, he never treated her any differently - maybe he truly loved her… I should check.

And those runologists who did the calculations? I remembered it well: The Blacks, the Lestranges and Tom organized their mysterious disappearance, and the two died very slowly… That was when Tom first saw sparks in the Bella's eyes as she sweetly and affectionately said "Crucio!"

The reason for this tragedy hurt the most: not revenge, not a murder attempt but banal stupidity and laziness. The first expert began his calculations, and everything looked good, so he simply tailored the results to his hunch. The second… Though he lived in a different country, he occasionally visited the first's wife and in his absence copied a number of papers from the first's safe, including "the calculation of compatibility between the Black and the Lestrange magic sources." Without even beginning his own calculations, he turned in a copy with cosmetic changes, claiming it was his own work. Unfortunately, their deaths and posthumous revocation of diplomas could help Bellatrix only morally.

Everyone learned a bitter lesson. Before Narcissa's and Lucius' marriage, the compatibility between Blacks and Malfoys was calculated by sixteen teams from five different countries. The unanimous consensus declared them compatible.

I completely understood Andromeda Black's decision to run away from this madhouse and quietly enjoy life… Still, unlike children, a magical source was incredibly useful: double your regeneration speed, power stationary wards and defenses, charge artifacts…

Inconspicuously prying all of that out of Bella was difficult… I left her mind.

"I am satisfied with you, Bella. Reapply your defenses."

"My Lord, I am your most faithful…"

While Bella was pronouncing her loyalty radiating with joy and happiness, I had time to think.

I managed to get the cup back relatively smoothly: all witnesses would stay silent under vows, and the mess of the ambient magic made it difficult to reconstruct the events. Nothing else was taken out of the vault, the bank employees analyzed everything on site. There should be no leaks, but even if it happened, they would blame an exploded potion or dark artifact. How unexpected: a dark artifact in the vault of a Dark family that serves the Dark Lord, and here we thought they used it to store flowers.

What would be the most logical conclusion? The Lestranges put something explosive in their vault, but it unexpectedly went off too early. And it was the goblins' own fault for missing it. No one would suspect a horcrux. The goblins saw that the cup had turned into something bizarre, but Gringotts did not meddle in their clients' affairs. So, despite the large number of witnesses, everything was successful. Though it wouldn't hurt to bind Bella's lawyer and appraisers with additional vows…

Now, the next goal. Bellatrix Lestrange. The title of unequivocally trusted servant could only be earned posthumously, but I will make an exception for her. The only exception. I already established the fact of her loyalty and its causes.

For my previous incarnation, she was a just an ally, a servant, a soldier; he preferred ignoring her love. But I was not like him! After the last Samhain, Bellatrix had a chance.

Without doubt, she would do absolutely anything for her beloved Lord. But legilimency showed she felt no sexual desire towards me, so dragging her to bed had to wait. Temporarily, while I carefully cultivated her…

Why her specifically? Unlike Tom with his horcruxes, I had an interest in women. How to satisfy my needs? The first option was muggle women. I would definitely find one to fit my tastes among the millions of them, but then… I did not see the appeal of sex that required the help of love potions, the Imperius or memory erasing. A brothel, money of house as gift was a viable option- after all, I would not be spending my own money. But if it ever came out, a muggle-lover reputation would utterly and forever ruin me. Moreover, it would leave an open door for Aurors. My deadliest foes, like Crouch Sr, could try assassinating me by turning the muggle woman into a bomb. Considering that I would be caught without shields or pants and somewhat distracted, they could have a real chance of success… Or one of my own fanatics, like Avery or Crouch Jr, would begin killing "the trash besmirching the Lord." Hiding and, in case of detection, killing my own allies was not worth any muggle woman.

Hence, I had to look for a witch capable of defending herself who had no motive to kill me. This very drastically narrowed my options. All enemies were out. Neutrals were also out: relationship with Voldemort would immediately make them my allies and enemies of the Ministry hunted by Aurors and the Order.

So, who were the loyal women? Carrow? I never found her attractive… Flipping through Tom's memories lead to the conclusion that only the Black sisters and Lily fit my tastes. Lily was a definite no: blight on the reputation, saw me as a murderous monster, could lose her mind and attack me, was possibly useful for controlling Snape… Andromeda? Almost identical to Lily. Narcissa? Beautiful, from a loyal family but not marked. And married. That'd be okay, but Lucius loved her, and a scorned financial executive could cause untold damage.

I did not idealize love. Love was no guarantee of compatibility. You could fall in love with someone with different life goals, perhaps even contrary to your own. Or someone whose philosophy or world view clashed with yours. Or someone who drained you of energy and happiness.

I needed love like a fish needed a bicycle.

But Bellatrix Lestrange… She was ideal: young, beautiful, loyal, powerful, shared my views. Would never kiss me with poisoned lipstick. So what if I did not love her? I didn't love the others either, and they were all much worse! I got a jackpot.

She was barren? Again, ideal! Then I won't be killed by my heirs - what if they turned out talented and vicious, taking after their patricidal father?

She was married? Indeed, inconvenient…

A conflict with the Lestranges was the last thing I needed. Even a mere work-to-rule strike would be very problematic. And killing three of my best servants was unthinkably wasteful. How to solve this problem?

I could get around it: let her stay married and keep the relationship a secret. But if the secret were uncovered… Rodolphus purportedly loved her, and while his vows would prevent him from harming me, he might drink himself to death… The rest of the Lestranges might also take offense, and I had too much hinging on them… So this option was discarded.

Divorce? Technically possible but rarely practiced in the magical world. And my relationship with the Leatranges might still take a nose dive…

The most feasible alternative was Rodolphus' prompt heroic death. Pity, he was one of my most trusted and a great spell crafter. I will think it over some more…

Besides, I needed to find a way to preserve Bella's combat value. Disconnecting her from the Lestranges will half her regeneration, and she could not go back to the Blacks' source… Maybe I will try connecting her to the Longbottoms' as Neville's adoptive mother, once he is the only Longbottom left… Need to calculate the compatibility… Or ideally, I would find the Slytherin source and make us Lord and Lady Slytherin… Or connect her to the Ministry or Hogwarts as an employee after my victory…

How ironic. Lord Voldemort had enormous power and influence but was not free to choose a partner. Maybe that was why purebloods hated those who married muggles: blood-traitors did whatever they wanted, while they had to do what was proper. An illusion of power.

I was uncomfortable with Tom's priorities. He could kill anyone. Or order anyone to be killed. Or torture. He lived at his servants' manors, owned nothing aside from his wand. Subjected himself to numerous experiments that robbed him of the simplest joys of life. I felt like his goal was not living well himself but rather making everyone else miserable. Not so for me.

Still, getting too used to a good life was dangerous. Surrounding myself with mansions and harems would waste time and lead to death from deteriorated skills… I was Lord Voldemort, a one-wizard army. Staying out of combat was not possible - where I could get in and out without notice, my servants would attract the entire DMLE… And everyone who loved luxury and harems, from the Ottoman Empire to Chinese emperors, never ended well - I did not plan on dying. But there will be time to think about all that after the war…

These were the thoughts that whirled through my head as Bella was restoring her defenses.

We went back to the Lestrange manor together. I had so much to do…

"Serpensortia" I conjured a giant snake.

I got a real taste for it, and soon the garden was filled with hundreds of various snakes. Bella gushed with excitement beside me. I conjured an illusion of Nagini.

" My snake named Nagini was lost around here. She looks like this," I told the snakes, pointing at the illusion. "Find her or her body. The magic around her might feel strange. Go do it. "

Parseltongue was not exactly a language. It was a mental ability to control snakes, the hissing serving as a crutch for the human mind. Anyone could take the time to learn to hiss orders at snakes, but they would not listen. They had no choice but to obey me. Too bad I could not convey Nagini's smell via illusion and didn't have a copy of her magical signature. The snakes will have to rely on what I gave them…

On the way back, we ran into Rodolphus.

"My Lord, I just received a notice from Gringotts about an incident in our vault…"

"I know. Blame everything on Dumbledore," I answered.

"No one will believe it, my Lord. The vaults exist in folded space, not even Phoenixes can apparate inside. And not even Dumbledore can enter Gringotts completely undetected."

"I know, Rodolphus. But the goblins giving us a report on Dumbledore's abilities would be a boon in itself."

Then we began developing plans: attack on Hogsmeade, attack on Diagon, attack on the Potters' and the Longbottoms' funeral, attack, attack, explosions, kidnappings, reports, reviews… Edward was the Chief of Staff, Rabastan the secretary, Bella and Rodolphus helped in any way they could. Soon, finalized plans had to be passed to the operatives at the the meeting.

Meanwhile, I should ponder how to best penetrate a pyramid barrier and a Miller Dome weaved in Klein bottle pattern which were covering the French mercenary base. These were unprofessional, biased mercenaries: refused our money but then accepted Dumbledore's and the Ministry's…

I got distracted by Malfoy.

"My Lord, as your most faithful servant, I am delighted to report…"

This time I broke into his mind in under fifty minutes. He found several fitting areas for the acromantulas but really did not want to keep them on his land and was searching for someone not connected to him to pass on the burden. But this was all but irrelevant next to his main concern: what did he do with four million galleons? And why was the Malfoy manor sterilized from top to bottom? And where was that slacker Dobby? And why did his wife go to France with his son? Did they have a fight?

"My Lord, might I ask whether you gave me any "special orders"?"

"I did, my slippery friend. Do not attempt to remember it. I need a diagram of the ritual you use to erase your memories."

While Lucius was sharing the information, I was checking his honesty.

"Lucius, remove everything banned and compromising from your manor. Then organize a search of it to show how law-abiding you are. You are free to go."

Back at my house, at night, in my sleep, I searched through my memories of the Black library. For instance, this tattered tome in the far corner, The Rite of Sacrifice: "… ancient magic capable of defending the target from any negative impact. Performed without a wand, the Rite requires only a sincere, burning desire to give up your life for the life of another, while having an opportunity to save yourself… " Surely there were some Death Eaters who would willingly die for me to grant me protection… For example, Rodolphus Lestrange…

The next day, Lestranges and I continued sitting around the table over our battle plans. At least I fully recovered. Perhaps I should go get some air?

"My Lord, Severus Snape is here to see you. He says he brought potions."

"Tell him I will meet him in the small parlor in thirty minutes."