Chapter 1

Retribution

Voldemort walked quickly up the gravel driveway to the Longbottom’s house.  “These fools will see just what happens to those who dare to question my authority,” he muttered under his breath.

He rang the doorbell.  Alice opened the door.  Her face blanched.  “Who is it,” Frank called.  

“Th...The Dark Lord”   Her voice was quivering.  Frank was quickly seen behind her. “What do you want?”  Frank asked coldly.

 “You know what I’m here for.”

  “No, not Neville.  Please don’t take Neville.  He’s only a baby.”   

“You should have considered that when you defied me – three times wasn’t it? You deserved this long before now.  Any action I take now should be considered generous.”

 “My Lord, you know that my husband and I profusely apologized for that.”  

“Mere apology is not enough.  I will not tolerate questioning from my followers. They must be absolutely obedient or they will suffer.”  

“Yes, my Lord.” “Now, where is the boy?”  

“Through here.”  

Frank put his arm around Alice’s shoulders.  As soon as he saw Neville, he snatched him out of the crib.  Alice started sobbing softly; Frank had tears running down his face.  Voldemort looked disgusted.  

“Please, my Lord,” he asked, “where will you send him?”  “I don’t see how it’s any concern of yours.”  

“Please, he’s our son.”  

Ignoring them, he walked to the door, then lifted Neville up.  “Let’s see if some time with Bellatrix Lestrange can turn you out better than your parents.”  He grinned wickedly, then turned on the spot.  

Alice leaned against Frank weakly.  “No.  Not Neville.  Not to Bellatrix Lestrange.”  

**********

Bellatrix  Lestrange was reflecting on a particularly nasty Muggle torture when she heard a knock on the front door.  She opened it.  “My Lord, to what do I owe this….honor?”  

“I need you to take care of the Longbottom runt.  It’s only temporary – I hope to find a better home for him soon, so don’t kill him, no matter how much you’d like to.”  

“Yes, of course.  If you don’t mind my asking, how did the Longbottoms take it?”  

“Like weaklings – bawling sobbing.  They should’ve known something like this would happen when they had the audacity to defy me.”  

“It sickens me to think of how they treated you.  Do they not realize how great a wizard you are?”

“It appears not.  I believed I would have less resistance in eradicating Muggleborns.  However, it appears that there will always be those who are of a favorable mindset towards them.”  

“How anyone could look favorably on Mudblood scum is beyond my capacity to understand.”  “Yes.”  Voldemort stood up to leave.  

Bellatrix quickly said “Blessed will be the day when magic remains in pureblood families only, where it rightfully belongs.”  

Voldemort walked out the door.  Bellatrix sighed, then turned to Neville.  “Now, what on earth am I to do with a baby?”  

Neville started crying.  “Shut up.”  He continued crying.  “I said shut up,” she said angrily.  

As his cries quickly escalated into wails, she drew her wand and pointed it down. “Shut the heck up, or you’ll regret it.”  

She threw him over her shoulder.  “Let’s see how you like being locked up by yourself in a closet,” she said cruelly.  She dropped him on a pile of coats, then closed the door.  

“Finally I can think straight.  Why did I say I’d take him?  I’ve always known that babies weren’t worth all that you have to do for them.  Well, I’m in it now, and I know better than to disappoint the Dark Lord.  OH, if only I could just kill him and get it over with.”   

She looked at the clock and jumped.  “Is it seriously 6:00 already? Crap. It’s started already – wondering where the time goes when you have a child to raise.”  

She walked to the kitchen and yanked open the refrigerator.  “Great.  No milk.”  She quickly checked to make sure Neville was still in the closet.  He was sucking on his thumb and playing with the coats happily.  “Looks like I can leave you alone.”  

She stormed out the front door and to the wizard store down the street. When she walked in, everything went silent.  Good.  A clerk quickly hurried over.  “Madame Lestrange, what an honor.  What can I do for you today?” “ I need two gallons of one percent milk.”  “Yes, Ma’am.  Right away, ma’am.”  

He hurried away. She stood silently and waited.  Less than a minute later, the clerk came back.  “That will be ten Knuts, please.”  

She reached into her purse for the coins, when she felt a strange vibration.  “Great.  A baby gets dumped on my doorstep, and now someone’s breaking into my house. How much worse could this day get?”  

She handed over the bronze coins, then quickly turned on the spot.  She arrived in front of the closet just in time to see a man and a woman gathering Neville into their arms.  “Hurry. She could be back any moment.”  

“Oh, I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” she said.  Startled, they turned around.  She slowly advanced toward them, wand out.

“Hand him over.”  

“Never.”  She waved her wand, casting a silent Imperius spell on them.  

“Now, hand him over.”  

“Sorry, no,” Frank said.  She stepped back, obviously shocked.

“How did you…”

“Never wondered why we defied ‘the Dark Lord’?  A few months earlier we had been hit with the Imperius curse.  The day we first defied him was the day when we finally wised up and thew it off.  We were going to keep up the appearance of loyalty, but we refuse to compromise our core beliefs.  Since then it no longer works on us.”  While Frank spoke, Alice slowly drew her wand.  Ropes shot out of her wand and bound Bellatrix.  

“Never mess with the Longbottom’s,” Frank said coldly.  Together they lifted Bellatrix up and pushed her into the coat closet.  They quickly picked up Neville, then Apparated home.  

As soon as they had gone, Bellatrix tried to get untied.  However, as the ropes were magical, the more she struggled, the tighter they got.  About to give up hope, she noticed that her arms were fairly close together.  She carefully lifted a finger to the Dark Mark on her left arm.  A few minutes later, she heard a small pop, and frantically began kicking at the door.  It slowly opened.  Voldemort stared down at her coldly, his disappointment clearly shown on his snakelike features.  His wand slashed through the air, causing Bellatrix to quiver in fright.  Looking up a few seconds later, she saw that only the ropes had been cut.  “Who did this?”  Voldemort asked roughly.  

“The Longbottom’s came and stole their son away.  Apparently they have a sort of…immunity against the Imperius curse.”  

“YOU LET THEM GO?” He thundered.  

Bellatrix shrunk away.  “There was nothing I could do.”  

Voldemort screamed in anger, then advanced on Bellatrix.  “You couldn’t do anything?  Are you really that incompetent?  CRUCIO!”  

“No,” Bellatrix wailed as her body shook spasmodically.

“Have you learned your lesson yet?  I thought you knew better than to disappoint me.”  

“Yes my Lord.”  

“Good. Now hold out your arm please.”  

She stretched out her left arm, then winced as a sharp fingernail pressed into her skin.    Within a few seconds, the house was filled with several wizards, and more continued to appear.  All looked questioningly to Voldemort, wondering why they had been called.  

“Many of you may notice that Frank and Alice Longbottom, former supposed supporters of our cause, are not here tonight.  They have defied me three times.”  Everyone gasped.  “For punishment, I took away their son, Neville Longbottom, planning to have him temporarily raised by Bellatrix,” here he pointed at her, “before finding a more suitable home for him.  I assumed that this would be punishment enough – to see him raised by someone else and not be able to do anything about it.”  Some were nodding.  “Unfortunately, it appears that I was mistaken. His parents have since come here and inconceivably managed to steal him away.  I have already dealt with Bellatrix for her failure.  Now, however, I need to deal with the problem of the Longbottom’s.  I already have a fine idea for how to punish them further, but I am not against hearing your ideas.”  

“Why don’t you just kill them?” asked Lucius Malfoy.  

“A fine idea, but over too quickly.  I want their torture to last for a long time.”  

“Then what do you have planned?” Macnair spoke from the back.  

“I propose torturing them with the Cruciatus curse until they are driven mad with the pain.  They still live, but they are forever tortured.  Also, this will render them incapable of trying to steal back their son, and they shall be forever strangers to him.”  

“Let’s do it!” yelled Crabbe and Goyle.  “Very well.” Voldemort said, pleased with the quick acceptance.   “Lestrange, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle will be in charge of torture.  Snape, Karkaroff, and Macnair will bring their boy back here.”  “Yes, my Lord,” everyone said.