Anchor Of Life

3. The Secret Package

31st July, 1991
Slytherin Manor

Marvolo was nursing a glass of firewhiskey with ice cubes as he stared at the fireplace, thinking back to the day they spent in Diagon Alley. The Dark Lord is obviously not someone who can waste his precious time to spend on mulling over the day passed, but today seems to be worth the glass of fine alcohol. It has been a long and tiring day.

Also, a failure.

He had been planning for quite a while when he heard the news of the Philosopher's Stone from his spies. He knew today would be the busiest day for Gringotts as new and old students would be coming to shop, and thus to Gringotts. But when they finally managed to break into vault seven hundred and thirteen, it was empty!

Obviously, either it has always been empty, or someone else has taken it already. 

Dumbledore. Is it he who spread the rumor about the Stone? Was the Stone even there to begin with?

Marvolo sighed, rubbing his temple with his left hand as he swirled the glass, listening to the ice cubes whirling inside with the alcohol. While he would obviously like a backup to secure his immortality, he already is immortal through his Horcruxes, for that he is not worried. But he is worried for his very much mortal and equally trouble-prone son, his most precious little Horcrux, who will be gone for the whole year away from his home's safety. Inside the clutches of Dumbledore. 

Even if it was in his natural instinct as a Naga to avoid any sort of confrontation, and take any chance to escape, Marvolo made sure that Hadrianus was trained well to defend himself in case he was cornered. The tiny caterpillar Marvolo had found had matured and was ready to break his metaphorical protective cocoon and spread his wings to the outer World. 

Still, Marvolo didn't like it, after all, Dumbledore was still far more powerful than him, even though Marvolo knew his identity was safe with the Fidelius Charm. Marvolo has to ensure his son's safety in some other way now. And he has only a month left before Hadrianus leaves for Hogwarts. 

He had already wasted years searching for ways to Immortality, but neither of them was as good for his son. Hadrianus had yet to be able to make Horcrux. No matter how much Marvolo tried, Hadrianus still wouldn't hurt a fly unless they posed a danger to the people he loved, and even then he felt guilty for doing so. Marvolo has an inkling that Hadrianus will never be able to do a remorseless kill, which was one of the most important factors needed to create a Horcrux. 

Damn it. Marvolo really needed the artefact.

Marvolo took a deep breath, then sighed, tilting his head backwards as he stared at the ceiling, mourning for the failure of a perfectly good plan. If it was before, he would have Crucio'd some of his followers to let his frustration and anger out. But now he had realised that it was not healthy. It would hamper his followers' loyalty if he Crucio'd them for every failure. After all, no one is perfect. Not even him. Or else he would already have the priceless artefact in his hand and he would be now busy making Elixir for his precious little mamba, and make him drink it at every New Moon.

Speaking of which...

The pop music Marvolo knew was playing in his son's room suddenly stopped with a bang, followed by a distant scream. Then for a minute, there are no sounds. Marvolo was immediately suspicious. Silence is the sound that worries him more than screams and yelling ever since Hadrianus came into his life.

As Marvolo was about to stand, the muffled sounds of running footsteps of his bothersome child started approaching his study. 

Marvolo could already feel the headache forming. Dear Merlin! Knowing that even the usual two rounds on the string maze are not enough to burn off the extra energy that he acquired during the last play date, Marvolo just gave the child the whole folder full of documents on different families that will be studying with him in his year at Hogwarts, along with possible allies and enemies, with some subtle hints about how to gain alliance. What could be so exhilarating for him to break the 'no-running on stairs' rule now?