Amelia smiled. "Sometimes, Dolores, one must embrace the darkness to bring about true change." Then her smile faded. "I just wish that my family could have seen the truth and not gone against his idea."
Dolores was shocked. There was no way she was a spy.
Had she really been a true follower of Voldemort? Was she always a follower? Had she been feeding Voldemort the Ministry's information?
There were so many questions Dolores had, but just as she was about to ask her, Dolores noticed something.
The ongoing gossip around the room had died out.
As she looked at where everyone was staring, a silhouette was walking up to the front. Everybody began to disperse from the group they had formed.
Dolores took her seat beside Amelia. The silhouette stepped into the dim light, revealing a tall, thin man with pale, almost translucent skin. His serpentine features and crimson eyes left no doubt in anyone's mind.
This was Voldemort.
All doubt that Dolores or anyone else had about the return of Voldemort was now gone. Closely following behind him were two Death Eaters whom Dolores previously thought were dead.
Wormtail and Barty Crouch Jr.
Could she be any more shocked?
As the trio reached the front seat, the two Death Eaters came toward Dolores and took their seats among the English wizards while Voldemort walked up to the podium. Everyone watched with attention as Voldemort was about to begin his speech for the meeting.
But before he started talking, Voldemort raised an object that was small and in the form of a 'C'. Upon looking closer, all the gathered people noticed that the same object was placed on each of their seats.
The wizards around watched as Voldemort raised the object and placed it inside his ear. Then he indicated the front seats where the likes of Narcissa, Amelia, and the rest of the Death Eaters were also placing it in their ears.
The rest of the wizards got the message, and all of them did the same thing. As they were still wondering what this artifact was, they heard the Dark Lord speaking.
"Welcome, my fellow wizards."
As the crowd listened to Voldemort's first sentence, they felt a wave of bizarre astonishment ripple through them. Initially, many thought that Voldemort was miraculously speaking their native languages. Wizards from various European countries, who did not understand English, were now comprehending every word.
A few moments of collective realization swept through the assembly, and some began to understand that this newfound comprehension was likely due to the small artifact now resting in their ears.
From the podium, Voldemort watched the dawning recognition on their faces with a serpentine smile. His crimson eyes glinted with satisfaction.
"I am sure many of you have noticed that you are able to understand me," Voldemort spoke again. He received a few nods and murmurs of agreement from the crowd, confirming their shared experience.
"This is thanks to one of my fellow Death Eaters," Voldemort continued, "a name many of you already know, Nicolas Flamel. He is the one who created this marvelous piece of magical invention that allows all of you to understand me."
The revelation sent a wave of astonishment through the crowd.
Nicolas Flamel, the famed alchemist known for creating the Philosopher's Stone, now associated with Voldemort and aiding his cause, was a shocking and unsettling piece of news.
As if to confirm their shock, a hooded figure rose from one of the seats, and when he took off his hood, the rest of the crowd could see the legendary alchemist himself, Nicolas Flamel.
He raised his arm, showing the Death Eater symbol, the dark mark engraved on his left forearm.
Dolores Umbridge was wrong. This was much more of a shock than she had received earlier.
The crowd began to murmur among themselves. There was the slight possibility that maybe this was a fake who was impersonating Nicolas through Polyjuice, but when they considered the artifact they were wearing in their ears, they all reached the same conclusion.
Only someone like Nicolas could build something like this.
Voldemort raised his hand, signaling both Nicolas to take his seat and the crowd to quiet down. His crimson eyes scanned the room, taking in the faces of those who now knew the full extent of his reach and power. The murmurs subsided, and a tense silence fell over the assembly once more.
"I believe that just like Nicolas, many of you have seen how weak our wizarding world is becoming and, thus, decided to join me here," Voldemort continued, his voice reaching every one of them. "After all, my other Death Eater, Barty Crouch Jr, has been meeting with all of you over the past month to deliver my message."
After the rebirth of Voldemort in the graveyard and with the knowledge of future events, Voldemort was able to warn Barty Crouch Jr, who was pretending to be Alastor Moody, to escape Hogwarts and come back to join him.
As Barty was dead to the public, Voldemort used him to secretly contact the different pureblood wizards around Europe and convinced them to join his cause. On top of that, based on Voldemort's order, Barty had been living in France while causing some unrest both in the French Wizarding and Muggle world. This was the result of this gathering.
A meeting of the influential pureblood wizards all around Europe.
Voldemort began talking once again, "We gathered here tonight because all of us have a common goal. The betterment of the wizarding world. But sadly, there are some wizards who, instead of working for their own, prefer the Muggles. Compared to the Muggles, we are better in every way. Magic blooms only in rare souls. It is granted to those who live for higher things. But slowly, many of the wizards are becoming weaker than the Muggles. As such, one of our previous comrades, Gellert Grindelwald, tried to warn the wizarding world against the danger of these Muggles. But once again, some wizards were raised to fight against their own to protect these vile creatures. Then, do you remember what happened?"
How could anyone forget World War II, which happened when so many millions of the Muggles died?
And for what did they fight, for power?
But one key takeaway that the wizard took from that war was the danger of the Muggles' weapon. That mushroom-like bomb that could destroy everything on impact.
After letting them sink in the memories of the war, Voldemort addressed the crowd, "That was fifty years ago. Now, imagine how many more devastating weapons the muggles have. Among ourselves, we have someone who was part of Gellert Grindelwald's idea. Someone who was very close to him; we can even call her his right hand. After sharing my vision with her, she has decided to join us here today. I present to you, Madam Vinda Rosier."