In the hills behind Malfoy Manor, where Voldemort lay hidden.
The dim room was oppressively tense.
Bellatrix knelt on the floor, not daring to speak.
As soon as she brought back Harry Potter's blood, she had presented it to Voldemort.
But Bellatrix had not expected her master to care so much about the ring.
The moment she told him it had been lost, she felt his anger reach its boiling point.
"You're saying Greyback was being controlled?" Voldemort's voice sounded even raspier than before.
"Yes, Master..." Bellatrix explained. "Greyback wasn't acting normally. He didn't seem to be in his right mind. He must have been under the Imperius Curse."
"The Imperius Curse... One cast well enough to escape my notice..." Voldemort murmured. "Dumbledore?"
"And that fool Barty Crouch Jr.!" Voldemort drew a deep breath. "Was there anything wrong with him?"
Bellatrix thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't think Barty Crouch Jr. was controlled. I'd lost my wand and had no way to leave with Harry Potter's blood. He was desperate for me to take it away, so he threw me the Portkey."
"Then someone used Greyback to ruin my plans," Voldemort said.
Voldemort did not think Barty Crouch Jr. had been controlled either.
Barty Crouch Jr. had spent years under Barty Crouch Sr.'s Imperius Curse. By now, he had developed some resistance to it.
But who had controlled Fenrir Greyback?
Dumbledore had been Voldemort's first suspect. After all, Greyback had visited the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts not long ago.
But Greyback should not have come into contact with Dumbledore.
That night, Barty Crouch Jr. had used his position as a professor to tamper with the protective charms around the Forbidden Forest from the inside, keeping the commotion within its boundaries.
Dumbledore had known nothing about it