Chapter 1045: Voldemort's Scheme
Chapter 1045: Voldemort's Scheme
A pair of crimson eyes snapped open, and Voldemort removed his hands from his head, his gaze seeming to pierce through the darkness towards the distant Hogwarts. "As expected, you're prepared, Dumbledore. What do you plan to do?"
From the start, Voldemort had never pinned all his hopes on the prophecy orb in the Department of Mysteries. While learning about the shared prophecy with Harry Potter was indeed important to him, it was just that—important, but not worth investing all his energy into, especially knowing that someone would try to stop him.
He wasn't that foolish! Ever since Voldemort realized the strange mental connection between himself and Harry Potter, he knew how to deal with the boy.
Even with the tight protection provided by the members of the Order of the Phoenix and the ancient protective magic of Hogwarts hindering his influence, these obstacles were mere inconveniences to Voldemort.
Invading Harry Potter's defenseless mind was not difficult for a Legilimency master like Voldemort.
He could influence Harry Potter's thoughts to ensure his plans proceeded smoothly.
Voldemort had already figured out Harry Potter's weakness—a laughable sense of heroism.
Harry Potter liked to play the hero, and he had done so more than once.
In fact, Voldemort couldn't understand why Harry Potter hadn't gotten himself killed yet.
But it didn't matter. As long as he exploited this weakness appropriately, dealing with Harry Potter would be a breeze.
Voldemort had been doing just that—using dreams to influence Harry Potter, making him believe that what he saw in his dreams was actually happening.
And this was just the first step in his plan.
To achieve this, all he needed to do was make Harry Potter's dreams come true and leave a deep impression on him.
So, he had sent his snake to attack Arthur Weasley, who was keeping watch over the Department of Mysteries. Regardless of Arthur Weasley's fate, Harry Potter would undoubtedly believe what he saw in his dream.
If executed properly, getting Harry Potter to go to the Department of Mysteries and retrieve the prophecy orb for him would be a simple task.
Of course, this was just one of Voldemort's goals.
Because compared to Harry Potter, Voldemort was more concerned about Dumbledore.
For this reason, Voldemort had used Potter's eyes on multiple occasions to observe Dumbledore, the centenarian who was his true lifelong enemy.
Unfortunately, Dumbledore had obviously noticed this and had been deliberately avoiding meetings with Harry Potter.
No, it was more accurate to say that Dumbledore was avoiding him.
But even if Dumbledore was aware of this, what could he do about it? He didn't believe the old man could sever the strange connection between him and Potter. If he could, he would have done so already.
Teach Potter occlumency?
Voldemort would actually welcome that. It would mean more interaction between Harry Potter and Dumbledore, increasing Potter's value as a tool and potentially turning him into Dumbledore's weakness.
A Harry Potter who could be controlled at any moment would be a ticking time bomb for Dumbledore, a threat that would constantly demand his attention and vigilance.
He could even use this weakness to try and kill Dumbledore or force him to abandon Harry Potter.
Even if he ultimately failed, as long as he could drive a wedge between them and disrupt their tacit understanding, Voldemort would consider it a victory.
When Harry Potter lost Dumbledore's trust and support, when he was completely abandoned or sacrificed as a bargaining chip, the famous Harry Potter would be utterly finished.
From the beginning, Voldemort had never believed that Harry Potter could pose a threat to him, even though the boy had escaped from his grasp multiple times and had been ludicrously hailed as the 'savior'.
For Voldemort, the only value in killing Harry Potter was to strengthen and solidify the loyalty of his followers by crushing the ridiculous 'savior' rumor.
The only person who could threaten him, Voldemort, was Dumbledore, and he had never doubted that.
As for that damned prophecy, it had been Dumbledore's trap from the start, using Harry Potter as a tool to strike at him.
By shifting his focus to Harry Potter, he had fallen right into Dumbledore's trap, resulting in his miserable survival for over a decade.
And it had taken him over a decade to realize this.
Dumbledore had used similar means against Grindelwald before. Only, the person back then was Newt Scamander, and now it was Harry Potter.
Yes, in Voldemort's eyes, Harry Potter was merely a pawn that Dumbledore had pushed to the forefront to deal with him.
That old man had used ancient magic to defeat him, something he hadn't anticipated... But Voldemort would not make the same mistake again.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
Voldemort snapped out of his thoughts and looked towards the entrance.
"Master, according to the latest information I've received, Arthur Weasley was rescued by the members of the Order of the Phoenix," Lucius Malfoy said as he entered the room and bowed slightly to Voldemort, who was seated. "And the snake you gave me was killed by Arthur Weasley."
Voldemort didn't care about the latter part; he had possessed the snake to attack Arthur Weasley, and even if it hadn't been killed, the snake would have quickly died afterward.
If Nagini hadn't been killed by Dumbledore, it would have been the ideal choice, but there were no ifs.
Damn Dumbledore! "Broderick Bode has failed, but you still have a chance," Voldemort said, lifting his head and looking at Malfoy with emotionless eyes. "Although you have wasted half a year of my time, I don't mind some exposure of our plan, but I will not tolerate complete failure. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I will personally deliver the prophecy orb to you, Master. I promise," Malfoy said humbly.
There was no other choice. Ever since Voldemort discovered that the diary entrusted to the Malfoy family had been damaged, Lucius Malfoy's position had become precarious. The subsequent failure of the plan to murder Albert Anderson had only made his situation more embarrassing among the Death Eaters.
"Tell Avery to get the imprisoned Death Eaters out of Azkaban as soon as possible," Voldemort said, looking at Malfoy.
"Master, we have already discussed this with the Dementors," Lucius said, lowering his head. "In January, when the Ministry staff returns from their Christmas break and their guard is down, the Dementors will loosen their control over Azkaban. We will attack Azkaban at that time and rescue our comrades who are imprisoned there."
"I recall that Lucius worked at the Department of Mysteries. I think he can help you complete your task faster. Don't make me lose all hope in you," Voldemort added.
Malfoy slowly backed out of the room, his head lowered, to contact Avery and make arrangements for the prison break. He knew that this task must not fail, and he couldn't afford the consequences of failure.
As for Broderick Bode, he would also need to be dealt with. Malfoy dared not risk exposing their plan through Bode, now that he was no longer under their control. He knew that Voldemort would never tolerate repeated failures.
(End of Chapter)
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