Planning for an Intervention

Disclaimer

I want just two things from life; to own the rights to Harry Potter, and for the ability to shoot lightning at fools. Sadly, life has granted me neither.

On the twenty sixth day of the eighth month during the year 1995, exactly two months since the resurrection of Lord Voldemort, a small group of Death Eaters (comprising mainly of the Dark Lord's inner circle that was neither dead nor imprisoned in Azkaban) met in the back room of the dingiest pub they could possibly find; The Hog's Head.

Lucius Malfoy looked at the men and women that had filled up the circular table in front of him. Many were prominent names within the Ministry and the British Magical community. At his right hand sat his wife, Narcissa. To her right were the Carrow siblings, Alecto and Amycus. Next to them sat Theodore Nott Sr. and his wife Agatha. After the Notts there was Mortimer Avery along with his son Bartholomew.

The last three members of their 'social gathering' were Alexander Yaxley, Euston Travers, and Severus Snape. Lucius wasn't quite sure what to make of Snape, he had been a good ally within Hogwarts for the Malfoy family ever since Lucius joined the board of governors, yet his closeness to Dumbledore was potentially problematic. That said; the Dark Lord had pardoned Snape, for now, so it was a moot point.

"My friends, my fellow Knights of Walpurgis," he said to the table at large, confident that his strong privacy charms and the tavern's reputation would keep potential eavesdroppers away. "I have called you here today, to this little 'social gathering' of ours to discuss a matter of grave importance."

"Spare us you dramatic pauses, Lucius, and get on with it," Mortimer Avery called out. As the oldest Death Eater there, not to mention being one of the Dark Lord's original followers, his words carried authority. Lucius glared at him.

"Of course, Mortimer," Lucius acknowledged with a grudging nod of his head. "We are gathered here to discuss the issue of our Masters unhealthy obsession with the Potter boy."

A murmur of assent passed through the group. All of them, barring Snape and the elder Avery (the later on account of being under the influence of a dreamless sleep potion at the time), had witnessed Harry Potter escape from the Dark Lord in the Little Hangleton graveyard.

"The Dark Lord is putting his hatred of that boy ahead of real, outstanding issues," Alexander Yaxley ventured, "It seems that the mudblood threat is now less important than one measly teenage boy!"

"Here, here!" called out several of the other Death Eaters. All of them were disgruntled at their Master's plan of inaction while searching for the prophecy.

"Something needs to be done! His fixation on that boy seems to have robbed him of his wits," Theodore Nott Sr punctuated his outrage by slamming a fist on the table.

"Yes, and we shouldn't be expected to waste all our time hanging around the Department of Mysteries," Alecto Carrow put in. "We already have Macnair scouring Eastern Europe for giants, surely the rest of us could be doing something useful."

Another chorus of "Here, here!" met her words as the Death Eaters all nodded between themselves.

"And just what do you intend to do about it?" Snape interrupted, a look of subtle contempt upon his face. "Would any of you challenge the Dark Lord? Would any of us question his orders when in his presence?"

"Well we must do something," Narcissa spoke back, "We cannot stay the current course. I joined the Dark Lord in the last war so that we could restore pureblood values to wizarding society; I am not here to go chasing around after rumours of some halfwit prophecy about a barely pubescent child!"

"Yes, we must act!" the younger Avery called out.

"We must act indeed," the elder Avery agreed, "But which of us will stage the intervention?" The room fell silent at the old man's words, nobody willing to volunteer themselves on what could well be a suicide mission.

"It is as I thought," Snape smirked at them all. He then followed up with what he thought was a funny comment; "I suppose you will have to wait for the Dark Lord to liberate Azkaban, then trick Bella into doing the deed."

He hadn't been expecting the other Death Eaters around the table to go and agree with him.

"An excellent idea, Severus," Lucius said, a pleased look on his face, "We shall bide our time then, and wait until we can persuade Bella to raise the issue. She has always been the Dark Lord's favourite after all; I doubt she would be harmed."

With that, the meeting was disbanded, the Death Eaters leaving with satisfied smirks on their faces; none of them would have to risk life and limb to dissuade the Dark Lord of his Potter obsession.

That Bella clearly wouldn't go along with the idea didn't seem an issue to any of them, they had all saved face amongst their peers by not outright opposing the idea, and they all now felt perfectly vindicated in having aired their frustrations to the others. The likelihood of the plan succeeding be Damned.

So much for planning an intervention…