Characters: Barty Crouch, Bellatrix Black, Regulus Black Location: Langdale Manor Date: 15th December
Barty had confirmed it obsessively; the box had belonged to the Black family. The tiny inscriptions around the box (Barty suspected something linked to blood magic) had suggested as much. He was told that this was the home version of a Gringotts vault, and so he had not opened it. Atop were two boxes; one of silver cufflinks, the other contained hair ornaments and a necklace that he knew to have belonged to Bellatrix.
It was a crisp, cold night. The paths had been slippery with ice, but now it crunched thickly beneath his boots. Langdale Manor put him in mind of Malfoy Manor, though Barty didn't find any white peacocks crossing his path. And certainly it was less complicated to reach the building itself. There'd been no barrier of curses as he drew closer, or magical house-guards.
Barty knew that Regulus lived here; he had followed him from the antique shop, and since then had been watching diligently. From his observations he knew also that Bealltrix also lived in Langdale Manor. Once he had realised it, her disguise did not seem a disguise at all. He wondered how she would appear un-masked, given that Regulus seemed to have kept his youthful looks.
He licked his lips and stepped up to the doorstep. His heartbeat pounded in his ears and he could feel beads of sweat forming in the hollow of his back; Oh Merlin, he'd waited long enough hadn't he? Barty moved closer to the door, breathing in deep breaths of cold air. He hoped that they would welcome him, congratulate him, tell him their plan to raise the Dark Lord and the clever tricks by which they'd all been raised. He'd tell them about the group who'd fancied themselves in the vein of the Death Eaters, cowards to a man. Soon he would know.
He took a moment to move about his toes, stiff from the frost. They would recognise him. They would know him.