Snape had arrived quickly and left even faster.
He had received two assignments here:
First, he was to join the Department of Mysteries. For that, Voldemort had given him a letter of recommendation addressed to Dumbledore.
Second, he was to spy on Dumbledore, but that was only a ruse to mislead the other man. The one Voldemort truly trusted was Barty Crouch Jr.
Standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, Voldemort looked down at Snape's retreating figure and fell into thought.
He couldn't figure out how Snape had fooled his mind-reading.
Legilimency couldn't do that. He was a hundred percent certain.
He had wondered about it while writing the letter earlier.
For a moment, he had even wanted to forcibly tear open Snape's mind.
But in the end, reason had overcome impulse. Until he was fully resurrected, he still didn't want to be too reckless.
As he pondered, he saw Narcissa supporting Bellatrix as they passed Snape and headed toward the little building.
Voldemort frowned and raised his hand to send a Patronus telling them they didn't need to come over.
But after thinking it over, he put his wand away.
Some things, perhaps, needed a more straightforward resolution.
Voldemort turned, picked up the wizard's robe from the coat rack, put it on, and walked out of the little building.
"Let's go to the Black family's ancestral home," Voldemort said as he approached the two women. "I left something there, so I may as well go and retrieve it."
"Of course, Dark Lord."
As Narcissa answered, she glanced at her sister.
Bellatrix was looking at Voldemort miserably, her eyes red.
"Since we're going, we may as well talk about a few things on the way," Voldemort said gently to Bellatrix with a smile.
The misery vanished from Bellatrix's face at once. She