𝖠𝖱𝖱𝖠𝖭𝖦𝖤𝖣 | 𝖥𝖱𝖤𝖣 𝖶𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖫𝖤𝖸

𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐘

❝ 𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 ❞

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Lilith kept crawling the air-conditioner conduit trying to find out where the voices were coming from. The channel was tight and dark, she could breathe the dust in the air and she was making her biggest effort not to think what else could be in there with her.

Hearing the voices closer and closer, she managed to end up in one of the plaques that had very narrow slits in it, letting her see but also covering her. She was a couple of meters away from Voldemort's seat, to be more specific, at his right side. He was there, sat while listening to the others discussing, petting his huge snake's head as the animal, who was the most loyal of his followers, rested over his lap and the chair.

"The Nordics will probably appreciate it, Dark Lord!" someone spoke, and Lilith thought she had recognised Avery's voice.

"And we need to start making other allies in case the French decide to turn their backs on us," Theodore Nott Sr said way calmer and ignoring his son sitting by his side. 

"The Nordics have always been more compatible with our ideology, my Lord," Lucius Malfoy spoke, "Drumstrang doesn't allow anyone who doesn't have, at least, one magic parent. The French will be way harder to convince."

"I agree with your ideas," Voldemort spoke with his hissing and whispering voice, still caressing his snake's head with his grey fingers of long and pointy nails. "But we have to be smart. The muggles already committed these mistakes 50 years ago - we need countries and people who are seen as more open-minded in order to establish our will. We can't invade all the countries, we don't have enough allies to do so, and now that little bastard of You-Know-Who took the Elder Wand with him the night he disappeared, I can't simply become the most powerful being in the world. Until I find that kid, finally kill him and recover what is mine by full right, we need to be careful and we need the whole of Europe and other countries outside this to participate in our project."

"So, we should cancel the plan?" Yaxley asked.

Lilith scowled, trying to breathe as deeply but silent as possible.

"Not cancel it, but postpone it. I suggest we wait a year to start with it," Circe said, making Voldemort slowly nod. Circe was being careful with her words and thoughts, he knew the Dark Lord didn't want to perceive someone was giving him orders.

Lilith held herself back from huffing with all the irony in her body. Of course, her mother was here.

"And what are we going do with the Nordics and the Balkans?! They want their servants and we can't lose their allyship!" Bellatrix burst, going silent all of a sudden, like a shy little girl, when Voldemort looked at her.

"Until we send them the two hundred muggle-borns, they can manage themselves with more elves. At the end of the day, elves are a less expensive-to-maintain workforce," Voldemort intervened, "And there are still a lot more regulations about mudbloods' rights."

"We can't commercialize with them as if they were animals and we must make sure they are not treated like slaves," Circe said, quite obvious, gaining a couple of snorts and laughs coming from her team.

"What? Is the Jewish in you appearing, Circe?" Bellatrix mocked her.

Lilith saw how her mother clenched her jaw and squeezed discreetly the pencil in her hand. 

Lilith's name hadn't been a coincidence, she carried the name of one of the most famous women in Jewish mythology and it hadn't been chosen out of anywhere. Circe's muggle father, when he was alive, was a devout Jewish man, and even though Circe didn't practice the religion because of the trauma she had with her own father, she still despised hearing any mockery about that part of her identity.