That damned Douglas Holmes!
His Horcruxes, the foundation of his immortality, had been revealed one by one in public, as casually as someone rattling off dishes on a menu!
The Diary... the Ring... the Locket... the Diadem... the Holy Grail... even Nagini, the future Horcrux he had yet to create, had been taken away in a damned Mouse Trap!
This was no longer a matter of his plans being exposed!
His soul had been laid out on an operating table, publicly dissected, cut by cut, slice by slice!
How on earth did he know?!
Dumbledore?
Impossible!
That old bee was powerful, but he had no such ability to see through everything!
Otherwise, his victory thirteen years ago would not have been such a lucky one!
Holmes... Holmes again!
An immense, ominous foreboding engulfed him once more like icy seawater.
His most perfect plan... had gone wrong!
Terribly wrong!
Why hadn't Barty Crouch Jr. appeared yet?
What role had that traitor Snape played?
And these Death Eaters, seemingly loyal, yet each harboring their own schemes!
Voldemort wheeled around, his scarlet eyes fixing on Lucius again like two sharp swords.
He had to reassess all his servants.
Especially this cunning Lucius Malfoy, who had "saved" him at the critical moment and happened to provide him with such a perfect hiding place!
Lucius felt like prey caught in a Basilisk's gaze. Almost all the blood in his body froze in an instant.
He could feel Voldemort's cold, almost tangible gaze on his face, on his body.
It swept back and forth, inch by inch, as though it would pierce his flesh and look straight into the secrets deep within his soul.
"Master..." Lucius's throat felt rather dry.
"Lucius."
Voldemort's voice was exceptionally calm, but that calm frightened Lucius more than any roar.
"You