When the Dark Lord truly witnessed Lys feeding his Nagini, he completely dispelled that thread of suspicion and banished Lys to serve under Lucius, despite his extreme dissatisfaction with Lucius at the time.
But Lys had merely observed the Dark Lord's serpent consuming a corpse—a scene utterly revolting in its grotesquery!
She realized that witnessing such a spectacle might prevent her from embracing Crunch for days. That's why she'd fetched a small deer from the kitchen.
She'd instinctively cast Scourgify on the deer and used the coaxing tone she employed with Crunch to sweet-talk Nagini, attempting to exchange the fresh meal for that mangled corpse.
Who could have predicted that the Dark Lord—who rarely appeared outside designated chambers—would materialize at that precise moment, subjecting her to multiple Cruciatus Curses while bellowing about her stupidity?
In that instant, the other two Death Eaters present swore they glimpsed green light flickering at the Dark Lord's wandtip.
But the outcome proved fortuitous—Lys completely vanished from the Dark Lord's radar, even as his forces remained desperately understaffed.
Lucius stared incredulously at the weakened, flushed Stalys before him.
"Was that deliberate?"
Feigning idiocy?! Wasn't she terrified the Dark Lord might simply Avada Kedavra her as useless waste?!
Had other Death Eaters not been present—and killing blameless subordinates served no purpose—she might already be dead!!
Lys rolled her eyes and extracted a Calming Draught from her satchel, gulping it down. "Cough, cough—who deliberately courts the Cruciatus?!"
Yet Lucius thought privately: You.
He recalled Lys's laughter after enduring the Cruciatus for killing Greyback.
Rather than pursue that topic, he shifted to other matters:
"Lord inquired about your Karkaroff connections. I disclosed everything I knew—your professorship and your father's business responsibilities. Also... those enterprises your father managed may transfer to my oversight, providing financial contributions for our returned Lord."
Lys slumped into the sofa, considered this, and actually brightened: "That's excellent news. Thank you for shouldering this burden, Lucius."
Seeing Lucius's puzzled expression, Lys explained: "Transferring control to you is beneficial, Lucius. This way, I needn't accept demands exceeding my capabilities. I'll arrange for Father to transfer the accounts immediately."
Lys noticed Lucius's trembling hands and offered him a Calming Draught. Lucius averted his gaze while accepting it. "You still carry these everywhere."
"The Cruciatus damages the mind—immediate treatment is essential. You should remember I've visited St. Mungo's for this."
With tension somewhat eased, Lys even jokingly tapped her temple, though Lucius clearly lacked the mood for her levity.
He dwelt on Lys's words about avoiding demands beyond her capabilities, his face draining of color.
"Also, Lucius—Igor, cough! Karkaroff! Cough! He's fled."
Lucius recoiled, initially annoyed by her spittle, but caught Lys's glance and simply nodded understanding.
"Lord expects Bella and the Lestranges to return from Azkaban for service, along with Dementors, giants, and werewolves. Exercise caution."
After hesitation, Lucius continued:
"I attempted to test the waters for you, but Lord apparently wants minimal external attention before announcing his return. You... should abandon thoughts of returning to Germany to teach."
Lys could roughly divine the Dark Lord's reasoning.
A fool, even positioned crucially, could accomplish nothing meaningful.
Lys felt her fool's identity no longer seemed quite so fortunate.
She nodded, smiled ruefully as their conversation concluded, and prepared to depart.
Before leaving, Lys glanced at the massive serpent coiled on the staircase, watching her with unblinking eyes, then stepped away from her senior's bloodstained Persian carpet.
Returning to her former reading room quarters, Lys thoroughly cleansed herself before lifting Crunch.
The Dark Lord's serpent's appalling hygiene made her unconsciously queasy when viewing Crunch.
She examined Crunch's scales individually with her fingertips, soothing her unsettled spirit.
Lys proved fortunate in subsequent weeks. The Dark Lord ignored her existence entirely. She merely handled business matters when Lucius couldn't attend, or assisted him with tasks beyond his solo capabilities.
This arrangement, however, saddled Lys with countless menial duties.
"Honestly, senior, you must be more resolute than him! Again!" Lys finally lost patience after watching the Ministry employee struggle against Lucius's Imperius Curse for the umpteenth time.
Lucius shared her frustration. "Honestly, you could control this man directly. His position's insignificant. I merely need him to approve Azkaban visitation permits—just one week's worth."
"And then? If complications arise during that week, I control him while telling him to wait as I infiltrate Malfoy Manor, drag you from your bed, and demand instructions?"
Lucius raised his wand. "Fine, fine! Once more!"
His capitulation stemmed from knowing Lys would absolutely follow through.
Lucius teetered on complete breakdown.
After the Dark Lord discovered his gifted diary's destruction, he'd punished Lucius severely. The Malfoy family's standing among Death Eaters had plummeted catastrophically.
Now even Azkaban breakouts required his personal leadership—previously, he'd merely coordinated from behind!
Then there was that accursed Department of Mysteries, impenetrable thanks to Dumbledore's interference!
Perhaps he should target an Unspeakable rather than some minor clerk...
Burdened by such concerns, Lucius's magic repeatedly failed, nearly shattering the employee's psyche entirely.
Lys intercepted her senior's rising wand. "You'll kill him at this rate!"
"Let's try differently." Lys studied the wizard's chest locket containing family photographs.
Observing the cramped image of four people beaming joyfully, Lys refused to let him perish before her.
"Ask Severus to modify his memory. Just some drunken or drowsy confusion. Then your Imperius need only last until he signs documents and applies his magical seal!"
Lucius felt no relief—Snape proved elusive these days.
Recently, Lys had returned to her reading room residence. She'd spotted her family's foolish owl Cerebold at the windowsill corner. While shooing it away, she'd altered one underwing feather's coloring to signal home, then silently cast a healing charm.
Lys couldn't fathom why the stupid bird appeared even balder.
She then visited Malfoy Manor to treat the Imperius-afflicted wizard.
But Lys couldn't address such damage—she excelled with open wounds or dark magic residue.
Before Snape and Lucius, Lys forced half a bottle of Elixir to Induce Euphoria down his throat.
"He might fall ill afterward, but sick leave should smooth your procedures considerably?" Lys suggested hesitantly to Lucius.
"Why do you carry Euphoria Elixir?" Lucius again watched Lys produce yet another potion from her satchel.
"Senior, I must balance my emotions. You wouldn't want me making mistakes from emotional strain and ending up decorating your drawing room carpet, would you?"
Lucius thought of his carpet and fell silent once more.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📚 BOOK COMPLETED ON PATREON!📚
This story has reached its conclusion on my Patreon!
🔥 Full story available now
💎 Exclusive bonus content & early access to new books
👉 Join my Patreon community today!
[✨patreon.com/DarkGolds]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━