Antonio had departed after discussing a few tidbits of their arrangement. Lily's training under his tutelage would begin once she had recovered from her injuries, which would take around a week. The place for the training had not yet been decided but it was very obviously not going inside the Hogwarts castle.
As soon as Antonio apparated and vanished from Minerva's sight, a small smile crept onto her face. There were quite a few facts Minerva had twisted. As she had decided prior, she was not averse to a little manipulation and those twisted facts had been a result of her determination to secure Lily's future.
Firstly, she did have obligations, restraints, and political considerations that prevented her from giving Lily specialized, one on one training. A few minutes of extra guidance was not going to be sufficient. To turn Lily into what she could become, one of the greatest witches the world had ever seen, specialized training was necessary.
And though it would not have been easy for Minerva, if she desperately wished, she could have managed.
In fact, arranging for Lily to leave Hogwarts and meet Antonio daily, or even once every two days, was going to be an even more difficult task. She had twisted and presented facts about Hogwarts' rules that letting Lily out was an easier task for her. Though he had been confused, he had accepted that reasoning. Plus, her three favours had done the biggest job.
She was powerful, yes. But her shoulders were beginning to crumble, and her powers were fading. Lily's future could not rest on her declining strength.
Lily needed powerful shoulders to rely on. And as far as Minerva had learned about Antonio, he was a perfect candidate. Power wise, he lacked nothing. Character wise, he also seemed fine. Minerva would just have to ensure that.
She was going to secure Lily's future. Anyhow. She was not letting her daughter be hurt even once more.
.
.
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(Yesterday Night)
It was another scheduled gathering of the Death Eaters which had been called by the Dark Lord.
This time, the meeting had been called in the manor of the man of the moment. The man who had become a star in the eyes of every death eater. Rodolphus Lestrange. The man who had planned and led the attack on Hogsmeade.
The gathering was far more lively than the previous one, which had been held at Malfoy Manor. The number of people attending was also higher compared to last time. And the guests of honour were the ones who had participated in the raid at Hogsmeade. They were the ones receiving all the spotlight.
Every participant of the meeting had arrived, and only the Dark Lord was yet to appear. If the cue from the previous gathering was anything to go by, the Dark Lord still had a couple of hours before he would make his appearance.
But the mood this time was not gloomy like it had been during the meeting at Malfoy Manor. The mood was lively. Laughter and voices of amusement echoed through the main hall of Lestrange Manor. Wine was flowing freely, and everyone was enjoying the hospitality of the Lestranges.
(Penalia POV)
I was sitting in one of the rooms of Lestrange Manor, my wand in my hand.
Just like Lady Malfoy, Rodolphus had suggested that I go to some relative's place. But I had ignored the suggestion. Although the death eaters were a bunch of unpredictable people, I was certain that if something untowards happened, I could handle it. I did not want to leave my own manor because of some outsiders. This was not my way.
Rabastan too was in the room, near the fireplace with a book in his hands, though I knew he was hardly paying any attention to it. Even with full focus, he did not have enough intelligence to understand that book, but at this moment, his attention was fully on the gathering going on downstairs.
My sons were not very intelligent. Many people would say it was wrong to mock my own children. But no. I was not mocking them. I was accepting reality. Accepting their weaknesses. And only those who accept their weaknesses and then overcome them become successful.
Rabastan had been stubborn about joining the meeting. Rodolphus would have agreed if not for me. I had completely rejected the idea. I had declared that Rabastan would be allowed to attend any gathering only after he graduated from Hogwarts.
It was not true. I had lied. He was never going to become a Death Eater. As long as my husband had been alive, I had not interfered in his decisions.
As a dutiful wife, I had accepted and supported them all. But that did not mean I had agreed with them. In fact, I had been opposed to many of them.
Now I had no choice but to take the reins of my family. Otherwise, both my sons would destroy their lives. I could not allow that to happen.
Rodolphus had executed the first plan I wanted and he had done it almost flawlessly. But he had missed the main purpose of all the planning. Even so, it did not bother me much. There was much to gain from this raid, and if I played my cards wisely, a great deal could still be salvaged.
Even though I was not a Death Eater, I understood the Dark Lord. He might be a very powerful wizard, probably on par with Albus Dumbledore, but he was certainly not courageous. He was a cowardly, fearful man. All his mannerisms, all his methods pointed in that direction. A single failure had forced him onto the backfoot. He had abandoned his previous stronghold and vanished into hiding. No one knew where. But the Death Eaters were too blind to see this. I was not.
And I was going to use all of this to secure my sons' rise through the ranks. I was going to turn Rodolphus Lestrange into the most important man in the organisation, his influence second only to the Dark Lord himself.
The Lestrange Family was going to rise.
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