Harry nodded. It looked like the aurors were ready to transport their prisoners. "I'll have to get with you later this week, Moody. We've found some clues that indicate that the dark lord may have taken certain steps to render himself nigh unto immortal. We'll poke around between now and then. Hopefully I can give you more concrete details when we next meet."
"Make sure you don't wait for a long time before contacting me," Moody growled. "I want details as soon as possible."
"No worries," Harry said. "It's not like I have all that much else to do these days."
Via apparition and portkey, the aurors departed with their prisoners, leaving Harry and Bellatrix standing alone.
"This is kind of anticlimactic," Bellatrix observed. "You'd think that after pulling off such a successful ambush we'd feel more successful.
Harry shrugged. "Small and successful battles can win the war."
Bellatrix nodded. "Yes, of course." There was a little bit of a silence before she spoke again. "Let's take a look at the Riddle house in Little Hangleton. You said that now that those five have been captured, you'd have to lay low. Maybe we can get away with a quick peek before Voldemort finds out."
"I doubt he'd come after me immediately for the ambush," Harry said. "When I said lay low, I meant that I'd probably want to avoid places like Diagon Alley for a while. They might double their efforts. Besides, I'm sure Voldemort knows by now, anyway."
Bellatrix shrugged. "Well maybe if he's distracted by this he will be less likely to worry about our visits to potential hiding places. I think it would be worth visiting Little Hangleton to see if our theory is correct."
Harry nodded, thinking back to how he had been taken to Little Hangleton during the final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Voldemort had sought refuse there as he waited for the opportunity to use Harry's blood in the ritual to restore him to his proper body. "Let's go then."
.....
Harry and Bellatrix trudged toward Riddle Manor. Their visit to what the locals swigging ale in the pub had called the old Gaunt Shack had yielded nothing. It appeared that it was indeed the same place Harry had visited when meeting Voldemort. It was now abandoned. Apparently the hole Harry had blown in the wall or the fact that Harry knew its location or both had led Voldemort to abandon the place. On the other hand, a cursory inspection had revealed that it was not nearly as comfortable a residence as Harry had been led to believe. Voldemort had used charms to superficially remodel the place. Likely, the dark lord had used it only as an out of the way meeting place. Considering its low value and compromised nature, there was no good use for it.
Despite Harry doubting that Voldemort would hide anything in the place, he and Bellatrix had searched for any magically concealed objects. They had found nothing and had opted to proceed to Riddle Manor by way of the graveyard. Harry didn't explain the significance of the graveyard beyond showing Bellatrix where Voldemort's father was buried.
"I still think we should have stopped off at the flat and changed your clothes," Harry said, eyeing Bellatrix in her dress. She had long since removed her heels and was now carrying them. Her hair which had been immaculate at dinner was now quite nearly a mess.
Seeing Harry glance at her hair, Bellatrix reached up and tried to adjust it, removing the hair ornament and replacing it. "We're only taking a look," she said. "It's not like we're doing a major excavation here. Besides, if we're caught trespassing by anybody, we can just say that we got lost."
"Whatever," Harry said as they reached a door into the manor. Though the house was vacant and practically condemned, the door seemed to hold firm. A quick spell undid the lock. Harry and Bellatrix entered the abandoned manor, shutting the door behind them.
"Lumos," Bellatrix breathed, holding out her wand.
There was dust everywhere. The air itself was stale and dead. There had been no life in the house for a while. Harry searched his memories and recalled that Voldemort had mentioned something about killing his Muggle father. How long ago had it been? Surely not so long that the dust would be this bad. On the other hand, things did get dirty quickly. Harry realized that maybe he should have looked at the date on the tombstone when they had passed it. Perhaps he could check on the way out.
Harry and Bellatrix walked through the house. Each door they had to open creaked loudly. Harry winced each time even though he knew that there probably wasn't a soul within a mile or two to hear the noise. Eventually, they moved upstairs after finding nothing that smacked of a magical hiding place on the ground floor.
The upper floor seemed to consist primarily of bedrooms and a couple of came to a room at the end of the hall after methodically searching the other rooms. The room appeared to be the master bedroom. Harry went to enter, but Bellatrix's arm shot out in front of him.
"No," she said. "There's dark magic here."
"What do you mean?" Harry said. "How can you detect it?"
"I've used enough of it to feel the affinity-especially when blood was involved. There was a lot of blood here. I think someone may have been killed." Bellatrix said.
Harry nodded. "I guess I should have told you. Tom's father went and married someone other than Tom's mother. I guess Tom came and killed them all one night."