Chapter 800: Chapter 702: Spinner’s End, Bellatrix’s Mistake (Part 2)
"You can have it all." Kael casually prepared to hand over the bottle, but after a slight hesitation, he poured out half of it instead.
It wasn’t that he was unwilling to part with it; after all, the stuff was useless in his hands, and it wouldn’t matter if Nicolas had it all.
Mainly, Kael had just suddenly realized that besides Alchemy, perhaps Magic Potion could also make use of it.
Even ridiculous things like rat spleen and leech juice could be used to brew Magic Potion—so why not Dementors... So he planned to give the remaining half to Professor Cecily of St Mungo’s Hospital.
...
After Tata had left, Kael and Cedric continued searching for traces of the Dementor.
Meanwhile, many miles away in a certain place... The sky here was covered in a much thicker gray mist than elsewhere; even in broad daylight, everything seemed gloomy and oppressive.
A dirty river snaked its way through the gray fog, wild grass grew rampant on both sides, rubbish piled up, and a huge, broken chimney towered overhead, looking sinister and forbidding.
But in this place of such harsh environment, a second later, a woman appeared out of thin air... No—there were two of them.
The two figures Apparated to this spot, one after the other.
"Cissy, listen to me!"
The second woman hurried to catch up with the first, trying to grab her arm, but was shaken off.
"Go back, Bella."
"You have to listen to me, Cissy—you can’t trust him."
"Why can’t I? Even the Dark Lord trusts him!" The woman continued walking forward without turning her head.
"The Dark Lord must be... Trust me, he must have made a mistake.
"Stop, Narcissa!" Bellatrix shouted, "He may very well have betrayed us! Even if not, we cannot reveal the plan to anyone—that would be betraying the Dark Lord."
"Fine, then just go ahead and turn me in." Narcissa said coldly, not turning back. "Let the Dark Lord punish me—Crucio Curse? Or the Killing Curse... I really don’t care!"
Her voice grew sharper, with an undercurrent of hysteria, "I’m telling you, I don’t care about anything anymore!"
Narcissa drew her wand and slashed fiercely in front of her. The arm Bellatrix had just grabbed seemed to have been stung by something; with a cry of pain, she let go.
"Narcissa, how could you treat your own sister this way..."
"There’s nothing I wouldn’t do now—for Draco..." Narcissa Malfoy stared blankly at Bellatrix for a moment, then turned away and strode into the maze-like depths of the ruined buildings by the riverside, never looking back.
Bellatrix could only follow.
They passed a faded sign, on which the words ’Spinner’s End’ could still just barely be made out.
At last, Narcissa stopped in front of the last house in the alley. Amid Bellatrix’s muttered complaints, she knocked on the door.
With a creaking sound, the door opened, revealing a sallow face and a pair of pitch-black eyes.
"Narcissa? What a surprise and delight..."
"Severus," Narcissa said nervously, "may I speak with you? It’s urgent."
"Of course."
Snape stepped back to let her in, but Bellatrix barged in forcefully as well.
Snape’s thin lips twisted into a slightly mocking smile, but he said nothing more.
They came into a small, shabby sitting room. A meager candlelight from the ceiling cast just enough glow to illuminate the scanty furniture within.
Frayed and threadbare couches, a battered armchair, and a rickety table.
It seemed this place had long been uninhabited; as soon as she entered, Narcissa caught a heavy stench, like rotting straw.
She instinctively covered her nose, but thinking it impolite, she lowered her hand and forced herself to get used to the smell.
But Bellatrix by her side had no such scruples...
"Snape, how long has it been since you lived here anyway?"
"I’d have thought you’d grown accustomed to Azkaban by now..." Snape placed two glasses of water in front of them. "Must be worse there, I suppose."
Bellatrix’s face turned a little green as she replied coldly, "I went to Azkaban for the Dark Lord. That’s a damn sight better than hiding away in this filthy tip, scrounging to survive as you do."
"Is that so?" Snape gave her a mocking look. "As far as I know, you seem to have lost something of the Dark Lord’s—something very important. No wonder his attitude toward you isn’t what it once was."
Bellatrix’s face darkened further.
"Someone stole it from my Vault! It’s Gringotts’ incompetence, not mine!"
"Funny, isn’t it..." Snape drawled, "Someone steals the Lestrange Family’s Vault key while you’re in Azkaban, then goes to Gringotts, takes the Dark Lord’s object, and puts the key back where it was."
"Tsk..." He clicked his tongue. "Seriously, even the dumbest student I’ve ever taught—let alone the Dark Lord—could tell how preposterous your excuse sounds."
"I’m telling the truth!" Bellatrix’s eyes were red. "If we just catch the Goblin, we can find out who really did it!"
"That’s not necessary." Snape said. "In fact, I’ve already done it for you—used Legilimency to trawl through a few Goblin memories."
"Who did it?!" Bellatrix suddenly lunged forward two steps, grabbing Snape’s shoulders.
