Chapter 25: The Headmaster's End and a World Remade in Shadow (1997-1998)
The period following Lord Voldemort's second, ignominious retreat from Blackwood Manor was marked by a subtle but significant shift in the Dark Lord's strategic focus. Corvus Blackwood, through the ever-present, amplified connection, sensed that while his own House was now treated by Voldemort with a wary, almost superstitious avoidance, the Dark Lord's fury and ambition had found a new, intensified target: Albus Dumbledore and, by extension, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Having failed to secure the prophecy and been twice humiliated by a power he could neither comprehend nor overcome, Voldemort seemed determined to eradicate the primary symbol of opposition and seize control of the ancient magical institution he both coveted and despised.
Corvus, from the serene, unbreachable heart of Blackwood Manor, observed these machinations with the dispassionate focus of a grandmaster watching a complex, if ultimately predictable, chess game. His days were spent in deep arcane research, subtly augmented by the energies of his flawless Philosopher's Stone, which ensured his vitality and mental acuity remained at their absolute peak. His Blackwood Sentinels, now a silent, formidable legion, patrolled the vast estates, their obsidian forms a constant testament to his creative and defensive genius. They were his answer to a world descending into chaos – perfect loyalty, unwavering vigilance, and power enough to deter any but the most suicidal intruder.
The multiplier continued to be an invaluable, if chilling, source of intelligence. Corvus became privy to Voldemort's cunning, cruel plan to use Draco Malfoy as an instrument to assassinate Albus Dumbledore. He felt Voldemort's contemptuous dismissal of the boy's capabilities, his sadistic pleasure in placing Lucius Malfoy's son in such an untenable position, and his strategic intent to punish Lucius for his failures at the Department of Mysteries. More significantly, Corvus sensed the intricate dance being performed by Severus Snape – the Unbreakable Vow made to Narcissa Malfoy, Snape's carefully curated reports to the Dark Lord that feigned assistance to Draco while subtly undermining him, and the constant, perilous tightrope walk of his double agency.
"A dangerous game Snape plays," Corvus commented one evening to Orion, who had sought his father's counsel. Orion, now a senior undersecretary in a carefully chosen, obscure Ministry department (one dealing with ancient magical artifacts and their containment, deemed low-risk by Corvus), was finding his position increasingly precarious as Voldemort's influence seeped into every level of governance. "He gambles with his soul, caught between two immensely powerful, opposing forces. Such paths rarely end well for the player, though they can significantly alter the game for others."
Corvus offered Orion subtle guidance on how to navigate the Ministry's treacherous currents – which factions to avoid, which information to discreetly leak to undermine Voldemort's less competent infiltrators (thereby creating more internal chaos for the Ministry but also frustrating some of Voldemort's minor plans without directly opposing the Dark Lord), and how to ensure his own safety and that of Blackwood interests. Lyra, now a respected Charms innovator, had been recalled from Geneva at Corvus's quiet insistence when the continental situation with Grindelwald's old territories became unstable under Voldemort's renewed influence. She now pursued her research within the secure laboratories of Blackwood Manor, contributing her unique talents to the family's ever-growing arcane knowledge.
Through the winter and spring of 1997, Corvus felt Voldemort's growing impatience with Draco Malfoy's repeated failures. The cursed necklace, the poisoned mead – each attempt was clumsy, ill-conceived, and ultimately unsuccessful, though not without collateral damage. Corvus experienced, amplified tenfold, Dumbledore's awareness of these attempts, his quiet efforts to protect his students, and his own failing health due to the cursed Gaunt ring he wore – a self-inflicted wound undertaken in his hunt for Voldemort's Horcruxes. He even sensed Voldemort's dark satisfaction upon learning of Dumbledore's weakening state, though the Dark Lord remained ignorant of its true cause, attributing it perhaps to age or the stresses of war.
The night of the Battle of the Astronomy Tower was a crescendo of amplified information and foreseen events for Corvus. He felt the Death Eaters' infiltration of Hogwarts through Draco's repaired Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement – a location Corvus knew intimately from both his own research and Voldemort's amplified memories. He experienced the ensuing chaos within the castle, the desperate fights between the outnumbered members of Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix against seasoned Death Eaters.
But his true focus, via the multiplier's link to Voldemort (who was not present himself but was receiving urgent, triumphant reports from Snape almost immediately after), was on the confrontation atop the tower. He knew Dumbledore's death was not just probable, but planned – by Dumbledore himself, with Snape as his reluctant executioner. He felt Snape's arrival, Draco's ultimate inability to deliver the killing blow, and then, with a chilling clarity that transcended even Voldemort's triumphant interpretation, Snape fulfilling his Unbreakable Vow. "Avada Kedavra."
The green light, Dumbledore's fall, the Dark Mark blazing over Hogwarts – Corvus experienced Voldemort's ecstatic, unholy glee at the news of his greatest adversary's demise. The Dark Lord truly believed Snape had acted out of ultimate loyalty, cementing his place as Voldemort's most trusted servant. The depth of Dumbledore's gambit, the true nature of Snape's sacrifice, was entirely lost on him.
Corvus, however, saw it all. He understood Dumbledore's long game: to protect Draco's soul, to secure Snape's position within Voldemort's inner circle, and to set in motion the final stages of his plan to defeat the Dark Lord by ensuring his own death was on his own terms, preventing Voldemort from claiming that ultimate victory. It was a masterpiece of self-sacrifice and strategic thinking, and Corvus, despite his neutrality and fundamental disagreement with Dumbledore's altruistic worldview, felt a grudging, intellectual respect for the old Headmaster's final, brilliant maneuver.
"So, the lion falls," Corvus murmured, alone in his observatory, watching the distant, baleful glow of the Dark Mark over Hogsmeade. "Not by the serpent's direct strike, but by a carefully orchestrated sacrifice. A truly… Dumbledorian move."
The aftermath was swift and brutal. The wizarding world was plunged into despair. Dumbledore, the beacon of hope for so many, was gone. Voldemort's power, already immense, now seemed unchallengeable. Corvus felt the Dark Lord's triumphant consolidation of control, his plans to install Snape as Headmaster of Hogwarts, to turn the school into a recruitment ground for young Death Eaters, and to implement his pure-blood supremacist ideology throughout the Ministry.
Within weeks, by late July 1997, the Ministry of Magic officially fell. Rufus Scrimgeour was captured, tortured for information about Harry Potter's whereabouts (information he did not possess), and ultimately murdered for his defiance. Pius Thicknesse, under the Imperius Curse, became the new Minister, a puppet dancing to Voldemort's strings. The world Corvus had so carefully insulated his House from was now unequivocally Voldemort's playground.
Corvus Blackwood, secure within his magically impregnable Manor, observed these developments with his customary calm. The fall of the Ministry was inevitable, given its inherent weaknesses and Voldemort's focused aggression. Dumbledore's death, while strategically significant, did not alter Corvus's own path. If anything, it removed one of the few wizards whose power and intellect he had genuinely, if distantly, respected.
His Philosopher's Stone continued to radiate its gentle, life-sustaining warmth. His Blackwood Sentinels stood silent, eternal vigil over his lands. His children were safe, his House secure. The amplified feed from Lord Voldemort, now unchallenged as the supreme dark power in Britain, was a treasure trove of information about the inner workings of a totalitarian magical regime, the psychology of absolute power, and the next stages of a war that was now focused almost entirely on the hunt for Harry Potter.
Corvus knew that Voldemort, despite his current triumph, was still deeply flawed, his soul mutilated, his understanding of certain kinds of magic – like love, sacrifice, and the ancient protections they wove – woefully incomplete. Dumbledore had laid the groundwork for Voldemort's ultimate undoing, and Snape was now the linchpin in that posthumous plan.
It would be a long, bloody road, Corvus mused. But House Blackwood would not only survive it; it would emerge stronger, its foundations unshaken, its master possessed of knowledge and power that would ensure its preeminence for generations to come. He turned from the window, the distant echoes of Voldemort's triumphant thoughts already being meticulously cataloged and analyzed. The game had changed irrevocably. Corvus, the eternal neutral, the silent scholar, adjusted his own strategies accordingly, ready for the final act of Tom Riddle's tragic, self-made damnation, and the unique insights it would undoubtedly continue to provide.