"I...
I came here by day,
But I left here in darkness,
And found you,
Found you on the way." -AFI, "Silver and Cold"

-- The Killing Lights --

- Epilogue: 5 years later -

Alone, unaided by any other members of the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore approached the Dark Lord's place of residence. It had taken him much time to figure out the location, and much more to find a way to get through the wards around the place.

The war had ended in a coup with the Dark Forces overthrowing the previous government, but after the regime change there wasn't really much difference in the everyday goings-on of the wizarding world. The Auror office was staffed primarily by Death Eaters, and Lucius Malfoy had become the Minister of Magic - but even so, the running of the Ministry was not much different than ever before. Ridiculous new laws favoring purebloods above all others had NOT been put into play. Muggle hunting was not made a legal sport. None of the horrors that everyone feared would be visited upon them had actually come to pass. The Order of the Phoenix was forced to disband, under threat of being arrested and thrown in Azkaban if their "rebel gatherings and treasonous activities" continued. Dumbledore had been "asked" to step down as the Headmaster of Hogwarts, but rather than being replaced with one of Voldemort's pawns, the school's board of governors (of which Lucius Malfoy was still a member) had elected to promote Professor McGonagall to Headmistress after Dumbledore's (involuntary) retirement.

All of which only made Dumbledore more anxious about what Lord Voldemort's long-term plans for his dark reign might be. So, for these past five years, he had sought a confrontation with the Dark Lord - which was harder than it sounded, since Voldemort had hidden himself away somewhere and ran the wizarding world solely through his minions without ever putting in a personal appearance.

And now the old wizard had finally managed to gain access to the Dark Lord's secret lair.

It was a surprisingly small nondescript house in a secluded neighborhood. Dumbledore cautiously pushed open the front door which, oddly, opened directly into the kitchen. Well, it was a small house - and he doubted that anyone normally entered the house through the door, anyway.

The old wizard was surprised to see that there was dark-haired a young girl - about three or four years old, if he had to guess - sitting on the kitchen floor, hugging two stuffed toy unicorns. For a moment he wondered if he was in the wrong place. But he couldn't leave without investigating, even if this turned out to be a false lead. He pushed the door closed behind him with a soft click and knelt before the child.

"Hello," he whispered.

"Hi," the child replied shyly, hugging the stuffed unicorns tighter as she stared curiously at the strange old man who'd come to visit.

Dumbledore reached out to pick her up and when the child did not flinch or pull away from him, he quickly scooped her up and stood. He cradled the child against his shoulder using only his left arm, leaving his right arm free to wield his wand against any possible dangers.

Exiting the kitchen, Dumbledore found himself in a hallway. There was a staircase leading to the upper floor at the end of the hallway, and along each wall was a doorway. One led to a small shabby living room that looked as though it was mostly unused, the other to a library. The library was well-stocked - the tall bookshelves filled with neatly ordered books lining the walls were interrupted only by a single window. It was in this room that the old wizard found the Dark Lord.

Voldemort was curled up in his favorite armchair under the window in the library with Nightdream open in his lap, his attention divided between the book and the three children playing quietly at his feet.

With a shock, Dumbledore recgonized the oldest child (the only boy among them) as Draco Malfoy. There was also a rather unattractive redheaded girl who looked about two years younger than Draco. The third child - obviously the youngest of the three - was a little girl who Dumbledore almost mistook for another Malfoy child until she turned her head and looked up at him with piercing red eyes and he realized that her hair color was the result of her being an albino. Other than the obvious difference in their coloring, she was identical to the child the old wizard was holding.

Twins, he realized belatedly.

The albino twin glared at her sister and, raising her hands in front of her chest, spelled out in sign language: Give me back my unicorn.

The twin in Dumbledore's arms - without relinquishing her hold on either of the toy unicorns - signed back one-handedly: No. Mine.

Without looking up from his book, Voldemort said in a low voice, "Children, go in the other room." When they hesitated to obey, he snapped, "Now!"

Draco grabbed the albino twin and the redheaded girl each by the hand and dragged them out of the room - presumably to the shabby living room across the hall. Dumbledore carefully lowered the twin he was holding to the floor and she quickly scurried off after the other children.

The Dark Lord closed Nightdream with a loud snap and stood from the chair, wand drawn.

"I didn't come here to fight, Tom," Dumbledore said quietly.

Neither man lowered his wand.

"What did you come here for, then?" Voldemort asked sharply. "Don't tell me you hunted me down simply to talk." The words were laced heavily with sarcasm.

"As a matter of fact, I did," Dumbledore said. "If it comes down to a fight, then I will fight you with everything that I have." Voldemort could see that the old wizard was deadly serious about this. "The thing I wanted to know most is why? What changed?"

Voldemort frowned. "You mean, why did I not carry through with my plans to purge the entire wizarding race of all muggle influence?"

"Yes, that. What changed, Tom?"

The Dark Lord sighed and sank back into his chair. He seemed a bit more at ease, but still on edge enough around his old teacher to keep his wand at the ready.

"The whole pureblood mentality - I found out that I don't understand it," he explained.

The honesty of his answer surprised Dumbledore.

"You saw the twins..." Voldemort continued hesitantly. "From the day they were born, Bella favored Lili over Medy." Although Voldemort did not say it in as many words, Dumbledore could extrapolate that Medy was the albino twin - who Bellatrix rejected for being born imperfect. "She was so upset when we found out that Lili was deaf..." His gaze flicked briefly upward - to the room above where Bellatrix was currently struggling to give birth to their third child. He almost hoped that there was something wrong with the new baby as well - because he was afraid that if the new baby was the perfect pureblood child that Bellatrix had always wanted, she would stop loving the twins altogether.

Dumbledore saw the glance and the worried expression that passed over the Dark Lord's face, but chose not to comment on it.

"Lily... that's a strange choice of names," the old wizard said instead, thinking the child to have been given the same name as Lily Potter.

"Not like the flower. It's short for Lilith," Voldemort said, the corners of his mouth curling into an expression of distaste. "Her sister's name is Medusa. Bellatrix picked them."

"Oh? You don't like your children being named after mythological snake creatures?" Dumbledore asked, sounding amused.

"It's not what I would have chosen," the Dark Lord answered shortly. Dragging the conversation back to the previous topic, he continued, "She didn't reject them outright - since both of them had imperfections and she felt she was lucky to have a child at all after what happened five years ago..." Dumbledore nodded to indicate he was aware of what had happened to Bellatrix five years ago. "The case of Cara Lestrange is worse."

"And also happened at an earlier point in time, if the child's age is any indication?" Dumbledore interjected - correctly assuming that the redheaded little girl he'd seen was in fact the child of Alecto Lestrange.

Voldemort glared at his former teacher in a way that said How dare you interrupt me, the Dark Lord?!

Dumbledore simply smiled serenely and waited for him to continue recounting his tale.

"Cara is fully pureblood and showed signs of magic within the first year, but Alecto refuses to have anything to do with child because she looks too much like a Weasley. Rabastan takes care of the child while he is home, and Narcissa babysits while he is at work."

"Is Narcissa here right now?" Dumbledore asked keenly. Since Draco and Cara were both here, and Bellatrix was noticeably absent...

"Yes, she is here to care for Bella during the birth..."

That worried expression was back again, Dumbledore noticed.

"You love Belltrix, don't you?" he asked gently.

The Dark Lord looked shocked to be accused of such a thing.

"Is that... what I do...?" he asked uncertainly.

-end-

A/N: Yes, I seriously ended it there. And have been planning to for a long time.

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