Endgame

Chapter 31

January 1979

"It's not working, my Lord," Lucius Malfoy said while he stared into the fire place.

"You heard what the prophecy said, Lucius," Lord Voldemort stood, glaring towards Malfoy. "Are you telling me you will fail to do such a simple task?"

"My efforts simply aren't enough," he gulped nervously, as if the words spoken could be his last. "Love is a convoluted thing."

"It seems," Voldemort turned, his mere presence scaring Lucius. "You don't seem to care about the fate of your leader."

"Oh I do, I do!" He fell to his knees. "Please, my Lord, I will do anything."

"What did you so to Nathaniel Blackwell?" he flicked his eyes down at Malfoy, as if he was nothing more than dirt.

"I finished him off," Lucius replied, dusting himself off.

"Hmm you seem to do one thing right!" Voldemort laughed. It was haunting, and encapsulated the lack of sympathy he could ever feel for anyone.

"If you don't follow through with this baby, your actions will not matter."

"What if the baby is not born, my Lord?" Lucius asked. "Wouldn't that remove the problem altogether?"

"You ignorant fool," Voldemort spat. "You know what happens when concepts of time are messed with. It could threaten everything I have worked for."

"I am nothing but stupid," he bowed before him again."Please, my Lord, what can I do?"

"Give her this," he handed him a small capsule of something shiny.

"Amortentia?"

***
"Have you gone nuts, Hallie?" Fred asked. "Why would you want to pay him a visit, of all people in this world?"

"So maybe I'm completely nuts!" She shrugged her shoulders and laughed out of frustration. "Why am I crazy though Fred? Crazy for wanting some answers after I've watched people know the truth before I do? Everyone is always one step ahead of me. Always. They know my business before I even comprehend what it means!"

"I don't understand why you think Malfoy is going to give you any answers," Fred folded his arms. "You know what type of man he is, Hallie."

"God, I am sick of it. Everything, absolutely everything around me is falling to pieces. It's to the point where I don't even know who I am anymore. Then I think about what I used to be like and I realised it wasn't all that bad. I can't do a thing to change what is happening, what people say or what they do or what happens to me. Each time I try, I'm sunk into more confusion and more lies—"

She took a breath.

"Surely Fred, you can't blame me for wanting a little bit of clarity? Huh? Oh maybe the world will begrudge me that as well."

"Alright, alright," he sighed. "Don't be going all Miss dramatic monologue on me now before we even think of a plan."

"You want to help?" Hallie said shocked.

"Pranksters promise, remember?"

"Oh Freddy," she smiled. "Thank you."

"Floo powder is the only thing going to get you there because you can't apparate there yourself," Fred outlined on the piece of paper.

"You can't apparate in Hogwarts at all anyway," Hallie said. "God, Hermione said that enough whenever we were in first year anyway."

Fred chuckled."Dumbledore will know that you're out of Hogwarts."