Voldemort's voice grew shrill again, the fury that had only just subsided showing signs of flaring anew.
"And you, Wormtail, you're still talking to me about the Ministry of Magic? About Aurors?"
"They are declaring war on me! This is Dumbledore and that Holmes launching the most vicious, most insidious declaration of war against me!
And you actually think this is an impossible mission?"
"Master... I... what should I do?"
Wormtail was scared out of his wits by these words. He lay prostrate, pressing his forehead tightly against the cold, damp floor as he begged abjectly.
"Use every means at your disposal!"
Voldemort's voice lashed out like a whip.
"Bribery, theft, even crawling into their sewers to listen! I want to know everything about it!"
"Where is the funding coming from? Are those goblins involved? What have they promised the goblins? Gold, or freedom?"
"What is at the heart of those Muggle-style technologies? One-click installation? Intelligent Friend-or-Foe Identification?
What sort of rune logic lies behind them?
Which damned Muggle-born genius hiding in a laboratory came up with them?"
"That Sirius Black, what does he do every day? Who does he meet? Who does he correspond with?
Is he really the shrewd businessman the newspapers make him out to be, or is he merely an ornate puppet pushed into the spotlight?"
"And that Holmes behind him!"
At the mention of this name, Voldemort's voice filled with deep-seated hatred.
"I want to know everyone around him! His students, his assistants, every House-elf he trusts!
What are the weaknesses of each and every one of them?
Their arrogance, their greed, their fears... dig all of them out of the rotting flesh for me, like maggots!"
"I need a key, Wormtail. A rusty, filthy key that can unlock that golden fortress of theirs.
And