Another day of training passed for Lily, and Antonio was very satisfied with her progress. In mere two days, Lily Evans had shown astonishing improvement. She had absorbed everything he had tried to teach her like a sponge. And thanks to her natural talent in spell casting, she had learned things in two days that an average wizard or witch would take weeks to learn.
Antonio had no doubt in his mind that if Lily continued this training regime for the next few months, she would really turn out to be an extremely powerful witch. A great witch, to be more accurate.
The next day, Antonio got up early in the morning and got himself ready. Today was another significant day for him. He would be attending his second Wizengamot session.
And given all the chaos and waves that he had caused through his speech in his first session and his formal induction ceremony, he was really looking forward to it. He really wondered if he wished to speak again in the Wizarding Council will the minister even allow it? At this thought, a wicked smile would cross his face.
The other significance of the event was that Rodolphus Lestrange was going to be formally inducted into the Wizengamot. And Antonio was quite curious about that event, too.
He would be seeing Rodolphus for the first time after Reinhart Lestrange had been killed. And Antonio's anticipation emanated from the fact that he was really curious about how Rodolphus was going to behave as Lord Lestrange.
Also, considering that Rodolphus's status had risen dramatically among the Death Eaters after the successful attack on Hogsmeade under his leadership, it was certain that there would be some change in Rodolphus's demeanour. He would probably be more arrogant, more overconfident, more snobbish and more overbearing.
While Antonio Olario was preparing to depart for the Wizengamot session, a small gathering of Death Eaters was taking place.
Voldemort was standing in the center of a completely empty hall. A little bit of the sunlight was filtering through the small ventilation windows illuminating the entire hall in its golden hue.
The gathering was not taking place in the hideout of Voldemort. It was another castle that Voldemort had secured for this very high profile Death Eaters gathering. And a gathering of the Death Eaters in the day was one of the rare events amidst Voldemort's ranks. It was probably the first time a gathering was taking place during the day time. For Voldemort to go against his usual norms was an enormous thing. And this showed how significant, momentous, important and eventful this meeting was going to be.
Facing and standing Voldemort were twelve wizards. All these men were dressed in the complete attire of the Death Eaters, from their trademark dark robes to their infamous face masks. Although the expressions on their faces were not visible, they were of complete devotion and loyalty towards the man standing in front of them. The Dark Lord Voldemort.
These twelve Death Eaters were among the most loyal and most powerful servants that Voldemort had under his command. And no, this group did not include people like Abraxas Malfoy, Alan Timirus, Rodolphus Lestrange, or any other prominent or known faces of Wizarding Britain.
This group was mostly made of lesser known faces. They were the second or third sons of a noble family, or people from very minor pure blood families who barely had any importance in the grand scheme of things of Wizarding Britain.
These were the very first people whom Voldemort had recruited into his service as Death Eaters. Thanks to their lower status, they had been easy to convince, that all the hardships they were facing in their lives were because of the Muggle borns and, to some extent, because of half bloods. Then these people had served as a connection, the bridge that led Voldemort to the influential members of society. In a manner, these people had served as the base on which the imperial building of his organisation of Death Eaters had been erected.
But even so, until now, Voldemort trusted no one more than these men. Almost all the people in this group had been handpicked by Voldemort himself. He had also provided personal training and guidance to a few of them and had fine tuned them into the best versions of what they were capable of.
In the organisation, these wizards remained hidden in plain sight. Their identity was hidden. To most of the members of the organisation, these were the lowest tier Death Eaters, the bottom rungs.
Hardly anyone paid any attention to their presence in the gatherings. They were the cannon fodder to the influential and powerful lords. Even among these people, they were unaware of the identities of each other.
And these twelve were not the only ones Voldemort had under his service. He had a few more such men under his command. And this group of men was Voldemort's personal trump card. But today only twelve were required and these were perfect enough to serve his purpose.
He had not really expected that he would have to use them. But tough times called for tough measures, and Voldemort today was going to take a tough measure. He was going to show the world his strength and his power. He was going to make a statement. He was going to show the world what he was capable of. He was going to a certain someone, why his name could not be uttered lightly. He was going to make people understand that challenging his authority was a sin, a crime that should not be committed.
"Good morning, everyone," Voldemort's cold voice echoed through the empty hall. "Today is going to be the most significant day of our mission. For our ideology."
"Years from now, when we turn and look back at today, we will realise the significance of what we are going to do today," he continued, his ice cold voice cutting through the silence of the hall.
"And you are my most trusted men, the most powerful of them," he said, and he could feel the fervour rising among his Death Eaters.
"I will not speak unnecessarily as you all have already been informed of what you ought to do. And I want each one of you to follow the commands I have issued strictly. No negligence and laxity will be tolerated."
"Are you with me?" He roared, and the affirmative roar of the Death Eaters echoed back.
A grin spread across Voldemort's face as he pulled out a glass vial from his pocket and chugged it in one go. It was the same liquid that he had gotten prepared a few days earlier and then had killed the potioneer.
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