In a rundown house not used by others for many years on the top of a hill, its latest and only resident stirred. It was dark, with a new moon preventing even the light of the moon from providing any light.

Bellatrix Lestrange shifted and opened her eyes on the cot pressed against the wall of the room she had prepared and waited for months. In the center of the room sat the large black cauldron filled with foul black potion. The very same one that had resurrected Lord Voldemort in the beginning of the summer in the graveyard of Lord Voldemort’s father.

With each passing day, her hope that he would return to her faded just that bit more. Yet that fading hope did not manifest as depression or hopelessness as it may in others. Instead, it manifested with mania, obsession. Bellatrix Lestrange had to watch over the simmering cauldron filled with black fluid for every waking moment. Every moment she was forced to look away, to tend to the bandages wrapped around the stump on one of her arms, all of it was torture to her.

She slept fitfully, only ate what food she could acquire in the minimum time possible for survival. All of it was put to the wayside as she stared into the depths of the cauldron for days, weeks on end.

Yet after all this time, her patience was being rewarded. The cauldron began to shake and rattle and the black potion within began to roil furiously as if about to boil. Bellatrix leapt out of her bed and rushed to the cauldron with a savage grin on her face and madness in her eyes. She waited with baited breath as the cauldron shook and shook and the level of fluid in the cauldron began to drop down.

As the level of the potion dropped, a smooth head was exposed. It dropped more, an arm, a skeletal chest. The potion kept dropping until there was nothing but a thimbleful at the bottom. But there was enough. Lord Voldemort uncurled from his old body and hovered into the air above the cauldron.

Bellatrix unabashedly stared at her lord’s perfect form. She felt a flash of irritation as she remembered Harry Potter’s mocking words. What would a boy like him know about what a woman would want in a man? Any woman should be happy to have the lord, especially her.

She was mildly disappointed when the lord’s form was shrouded by a dark cloak just as it had been in the graveyard.

“Bellatrix…” Lord Voldemort rasped as he floated downwards and his feet touched the ground.

“My recollections are fuzzy… uncertain. My soul took much damage and it has taken this long for my mind to return to me. I was about to address our wayward Death Eaters… And then nothing. Describe what happened. I will take the time to inspect your memories more thoroughly later.”

Bellatrix was confused, but she couldn’t refuse the lord. She told him every detail of what had happened. His eyes glowing golden and his cataclysmic battle with the demonic form of Balthazar. Her retreat with the Cauldron and their supplies to a safe location as she realized that the battle was beyond the might of the weaklings on the ground.

“This is most disturbing…” Lord Voldemort said, “I do not recall any of this battle you speak of. I am a genius, the greatest wizard of this age. Someone who has delved deeper in the secrets of magic than any before him. Yet, I have never heard of the magic which you describe me or this Balthazar using…”

“My lord…” Bellatrix said leadingly, not even sure what she was asking for.

Lord Voldemort raised his head to stare at her, brought out of what appeared to be a state of deep thought.

“Ah, Bellatrix. Wands?”

“Of course my lord! I have them right here.”

She reached into her robes and pulled out seven wands of different types that she had stolen from others. She held out the wands and fanned them out and bowed her head as if presenting a gift for a king.

Her lord hunted through them and cast a few idle spells through each of them before choosing, her keeping her head bowed the whole time. He carefully plucked the most suitable wand and inspected it for a moment before looking back at her.

“Bellatrix, hold out your arm.”

Bellatrix held out her undamaged arm with the dark mark on it after putting the spare wands back in her robes.

“No, your other one.”

“My lord?”

Bellatrix obediently held out her stump with the bandages on the end. Her lord waved his wand and the bandages came off and revealed the reddish partially healed stump where her hand had used to be.

“I did not have time to do so last time,” her lord said with a faint smile, “But I reward loyalty in my servants. Loyalty to Lord Voldemort does not go unrewarded. Especially loyalty like what you have shown…”

With a wave of his wand, a silvery liquid like metal streamed out of the lord’s wand and onto the end of Bellatrix’s stump. She felt little streams of coolness spread through her whole arm all the way up to her elbow in thin little burrowing lines. When it was finished the silvery fluid spraying out of the lord’s wand began to bulge outwards until it formed a silvery hand that hardened and solidified as soon as it was fully formed.

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Bellatrix felt pinpricks and small bursts of sensation in her hand and gasped slightly as the hand moved and curled its fingers according to her commands just as easily as her normal one did. The only difference was the metal hand felt a little numb but besides that it seemed almost identical to her hand of flesh and blood.

“Thank you, my lord! Thank you! I will treasure it!”

“You were always one of my most dedicated servants,” Lord Voldemort said with a faint smile, “And as the one who sought me out and assisted me in such a way you shall be rewarded in equal measure to your dedication to me.”

“Of course my lord! I’m honored to be in your service!”

“Very well, I- I- I- I-”

Bellatrix’s heart dropped as her lord’s words started stuttering again and his eyes started lighting with a golden glow. He stopped speaking and inspected the room around them silently, his whole manner changing in an instant. The lord’s glowing golden eyes fixed on the cauldron.

“No! That is for Lord Voldemort alone!” Bellatrix said, “Whoever you are, you can not touch it!”

“Silence,” Her lord’s mouth said, “I mean to assist. When your lord wakes, inform him to not alter the ritual circles I will place. Otherwise they may break or in the worst case explode and vaporize this entire house into atoms with pure magical energy.”

Bellatrix raised her wand resolutely and prepared a stunning spell. Her lord would understand the need when there was an imposter controlling his body.

Before Bellatrix could finish the motion she was frozen in place by an invisible force. A petrification.

“Yes, this should only take a few hours,” the golden eyed imposter muttered, “Plenty of time for Merlin to rest and recover his strength. Oh, I hope he likes those chocolate covered strawberries I got for him on his little island…”

The golden eyed imposter muttered to himself as he waved his wand and formed complex ritual circles like none that Bellatrix had ever seen. Golden lines weaved in and out of the air flickering in and out of existence in esoteric patterns in a sphere around the Cauldron. Petrified by the imposter’s spell, Bellatrix could only watch and listen. Watching quickly grew boring. She understood not one bit what any of it meant. The listening, however, was quite strange.

“...Flowers? Should I not have done the tropical ones? Oh, but the British ones were so drab…”

For all intents and purposes the golden eyed imposter sounded like… A nervous lover? Trying to win back the affection of this Merlin through lavish gifts? Merlin, what a name. Bellatrix wondered idly what kind of person had the balls to name their kid that. Talk about setting them up for failing to live up to expectations.

“...And all those non-magical inventions people have made since his time. He’ll see that my slow and steady path is leading to progress! Yes, I’m sure of it. This time will be different, I’ll be able to convince him. So much has changed since the last time.”

The person kept babbling to themselves, barely even seeming to remember that Bellatrix was still standing there frozen, her wand raised as if to attack even as her eyes darted around to follow the movements of the golden eyed imposter.

With one final set of golden glowing golden lines in the air, everything suddenly pulsed with the steady thrum of magic. A bright glowing sphere of gold appeared around the cauldron. It glowed intensely for several seconds as Bellatrix and the imposter watched.

After a few moments it died down to nothing, only the occasional golden flash from nowhere from a random point within the area where the golden sphere had been showing that anything had changed.

The imposter turned to Bellatrix.

“Lord Voldemort. When you view this memory, there are a few things that you must know. First, you must kill Eric Potter for me. This is my price for my assistance. I believe our interests align in this regard. Second, I will not take control of your body again unless you don’t kill your target in time and I must take matters into my own hands. I will be busy with my own tasks, so you have until I am finished with them to kill Eric Potter. I’d recommend you hurry in killing him, I may complete my task at any time and then your body will be mine again. Third, this ritual I have built will multiply perfectly the potion left at the bottom of the cauldron, supplied through nothing but the magic in the air. Given enough time it will fully refill and be prepared to accept your soul to rebuild a new body once more.”

The imposter took one more deep breath before continuing.

“Finally, there is one disadvantage. Your soul, and hence your horcruxes, have been bound to this cauldron as well. Should it be destroyed then that damage will spread through the network and destroy all of your horcruxes as well. But at the same time your body can now be rebuilt with relative ease even after death. A worthy trade off I would say. But since the cauldron can’t be moved from this spot due to my fragile ritual, I’d suggest you do your best to defend it. Best of luck. And remember, kill Eric Potter. His death comes before all else.”

Lord Voldemort’s eyes lost their golden glow and he staggered slightly.

“What is…” He looked to the petrified Bellatrix and unfroze her with his wand.

“Lord, look through my memories!” She said, “The golden eyed imposter took control of your body again!”

Voldemort narrowed his eyes in focus as they met her own. She licked her lips as her body tingled and all sorts of sensual thoughts washed over her as she stared into those piercing commanding eyes… He could tell her to do anything.

But the lord used his powers to brush past those thoughts and had her mind replay the most recent events with the golden eyed imposter over and over again. Rewinding and refocusing on different details over and over again. Going over every point of what the imposter did in minute detail.

Finally, his piercing eyes left hers as he gleaned all that he could from the information.

He stood there silently for a moment.

“Leave here, and tell no one of this place. It will be your most trusted secret, more valuable than even your own life,” Lord Voldemort said, “Search out where Eric Potter is staying for the summer. When you find him, summon me with your dark mark. Should things go awry in any way, proceed to Lucius Malfoy’s house. I will join you there should this strange golden force interfere again and throw off our plans.”

“Yes, lord. I do as you command,” Bellatrix said, “Will that be all you require for now? You do not wish for me to… serve you as more than a servant? Help you familiarize yourself with your new body?”

“No,” the Lord said dismissively, “This task is critical. Leave immediately.”

“By your command,” Bellatrix replied with a curtsey, slightly disappointed. But he had said that he valued her loyalty, so perhaps he would be more in the mood after he had killed Eric Potter once and for all. She walked out of the house and through the wards she had placed over this house. She drew her wand and then in a crack of air she apparated away and was gone.

On the hunt for Eric Potter.