Douglas switched off the lamp on the laboratory bench.
Most of the room went dark at once.
Only the runes still glowed faintly on the walls.
"Study hard."
"Once you can pass round twenty-one."
"I'll give you that chance."
The red mist stared at him.
"Aren't you afraid I'll actually do it?"
Douglas turned and walked toward the door.
The runes cut his black shadow into several sections.
"I'm only afraid you won't."
The heavy iron door slowly closed.
Before the last sliver of light vanished.
The red mist heard him say something outside the door.
"Tomorrow, we're studying network protocols."
"Remember to prepare."
The iron door closed completely.
The runes fell dormant again.
All that remained in the room was the lingering warmth of burned-out machinery.
And that endlessly churning mass of red mist in the cylindrical chamber.
It stared at the darkened screen.
For a long time.
Then slowly uttered a sentence.
"Just what is he going to turn this world."
"Into?"
Malfoy Manor.
A basement.
A basement deep underground.
The torches on the walls burned with green flames.
Their light fell across the floor.
Illuminating the altar in the center.
The altar was not tall.
But its base was very wide.
Layers of golden patterns coiled upward.
A core crystal was embedded in the very center.
It was not a natural crystal ore.
It was a dismantled Golden Skynet core.
Silver nails, copper rings, black wax, and bone powder weighed down its edges.
Several Muggle wires ran through gaps in the stone.
Two glass tubes were inserted diagonally into the base.
Dark red liquid flowed slowly through them.
This was not simply a magic array.
Nor was it simply a machine.
This was an experiment laid open.
And a sacrifice.
Voldemort stood before the altar.
He wore