❝ You’re a fucking fool, Lestrange. ❞

Her voice was nothing but a whisper; harsh and cold like the frost that kissed the ground. Her teeth were bared as if she meant to lunge for his throat. They were both predators — wolves that howled at the moon that belonged to a pack that had fallen apart. All sense of control ( even that that had it’s talons deep within Alecto ) was gone and the Death Eaters were lost.

Lost. Empty. Pointless.

Flashes of light lit up the dark room, illuminating the older man’s face as she stared at him through narrowed eyes. ❝A fucking fool. He’s dead.❞ The words tasted like ash and it felt as if nails were biting into her heart.

She had followed him religiously, not quite as much as Bellatrix. There was always the need to satisfy her addiction of controlling others yet she had still done his bidding. Alecto had been happy to follow his orders – she had all too willingly tortured and murdered anyone he had wanted her to; not even hesitating when it was a child’s screams that pierced the room.

But he was weak and pitiful in his final hours. Crumbled because of a fucking boy. A baby in a cradle had been her Dark Lord’s downfall. And what was left for his followers now? Hunted down and only to meet an end much like Voldemort himself. No – Alecto wasn’t going to let that happen. Not to her; not to Amycus. She was of too much worth to allow Death to greet her just yet.

The Longbottoms were hot on the Death Eater’s trail. The plan would ultimately fail. Those that were masked would be revealed in the ink of the Daily Prophet. The Order would be able to breathe and then properly grieve.

And Alecto would attend the funeral of those that had fallen. She would set a single flower on Lily’s grave and would hang her head while she mourned the girl she had played oh-so-well and her husband. She would announce to the Leaky Cauldron that all drinks were free and toast to the boy Potter herself. She would build a safety net and with time, she would weave her own web of chaos.

But for now she had to leave this place before it was too late.

       ❝You're going to rot, Lestrange.