Chapter 328: The Empty Throne

Lucius left with confidence, and Harry and Sirius both assured him, in their capacity as Death Eaters, that they would support him in any future election for the Dark Lord.

"I even think it wouldn't be so bad if he became the Dark Lord," Sirius said, stroking his chin. "He also wants to weaken Bellatrix—we can exploit that."

"Lucius's cleverness lies in the fact that the future he paints is not only appealing to Regulus and Holf, but also perfectly acceptable to the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry of Magic," Harry analyzed. "They all welcome the idea of the Death Eaters first eliminating their most aggressive member through infighting, and since Lucius truly has both the power and intent to isolate the Lestranges, no one could reasonably object."

"So, should we still activate Saruman's plan?" Sirius asked, confused.

"I don't know—I'll ask Snape later," Harry said, scratching his head. "But one thing is certain: to bring out Saruman, Snape must introduce the matter at the Death Eater meeting. So before he speaks, we'd better not act rashly."

That evening, before the scheduled Occlumency lesson, Harry raised the question first.

"Potter, I'm curious—if you think you can now reveal yourself as Saruman, what's the point of learning Occlumency? Are we doing this for fun?" Snape sneered. "Until you can withstand any intrusion, we cannot expose that matter."

"Huh?" Harry immediately felt the pressure rise. "But they're all excitedly preparing to elect the Dark Lord!"

"Then delay it," Snape said without hesitation. "On one hand, we need you to master Occlumency; on the other, delay gives both candidates more time to fight among themselves or compete for support."

"I understand," Harry said, exhaling slightly.

"Don't think you can relax, Potter," Snape seemed to read his thoughts. "If Bellatrix grows impatient—she already suspects your identity, and in her view, I likely know the truth and simply haven't told her yet."

Harry stared blankly at Snape, realizing that delay might not be easy.

"For a woman who lives under constant stress and anxiety," Snape paused, his tone grave, "you can never predict the day she might ignite a war that's already on the brink."

"You must learn Occlumency as soon as possible. Do you understand?" Snape said coldly.

"Y-yes," Harry whispered.

After a night of practice, Harry felt he had made some progress, but still fell far short of Snape's expectations. Under Snape's gloomy gaze, Harry chose to take his leave first. As for how to delay the Dark Lord election—let Snape worry about that. Harry himself would simply play the role of Holf and watch the show.

Harry devoted all his remaining energy to his studies. He had assumed the only pressing matter was the Death Eaters' Dark Lord election. But in reality, unrest had begun stirring among the students.

"Why does the Statute of Secrecy forbid us from using Muggle items?" Harry overheard a student complaining as he passed the common room. "The Statute is meant to keep Muggles unaware of wizards—not to make wizards unaware of Muggles!"

"Honestly, Muggle Studies never teaches us how to avoid modern witch-hunting tactics—it just keeps telling us to treat Muggles kindly. It's ridiculous."

"Ah, how I miss Professor Lupin. Even Dobby would do."

Harry himself missed Lupin too, but he didn't take these complaints seriously. In his view, the fragile Statute of Secrecy would eventually be torn apart completely—and then these dissonant voices would vanish.

At the Order of the Phoenix meeting on Saturday, Mundungus vaguely brushed off the specifics of the plan with "Dumbledore's secret contingency," then assigned a series of tasks.

First and foremost was the issue of the portraits. Previously, both sides had considered the portraits insignificant until all Horcruxes were gathered; and even now, both still regarded Snape as one of their own. Thus, they felt secure about the portraits hanging outside Dumbledore's office. But for the Order, if the portraits were to become a crucial deterrent, they needed to secure them more firmly in their own hands. Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones were tasked with secretly painting two forgeries, after which Harry would replace the originals.

Next, the threat issued to the Death Eaters could not be reduced to mere legal compliance. The Death Eater leadership excelled at exploiting legal loopholes, so Order members needed to discuss and recall the Death Eaters' past dirty tactics to draft a basic code of conduct.

Finally, they needed to select someone to hold the "deterrent button"—someone the Death Eaters would believe would not hesitate a single moment to burn the portraits and resurrect Dumbledore, someone who even appeared eager to do so. He must also be immune to any form of bribery or assassination by the Death Eaters, must live in seclusion, be fiercely loyal to Dumbledore, slightly paranoid, have virtually no personal interests, and be ready to devote his entire life to the cause of justice.

At the end of the meeting, Albus Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, narrowly defeated Moody by three votes to become the first Keeper of the Portraits. He then used his one-vote veto to reject Draco's proposal to name the position "Sword-Bearer."

After the meeting, Harry felt it had gone reasonably well—he wasn't exhausted at all, because he had fallen asleep midway and only woke up when someone nudged him during the voting.

Before the next Death Eater meeting, Harry slipped by the Dumbledore's Army training grounds. Once a compromise between the Order and the Ministry—a project widely acknowledged as meaningful but useless—it now threatened to become the Order's most practically effective initiative.

Seeing that Craster was teaching the children well, Harry felt reassured and returned to his homework.

The next day, Harry and Sirius briefly exchanged strategies, unified their approach, then each assumed their disguises and entered the Death Eater meeting chamber, eager to see how Snape intended to delay the Dark Lord election.

But when he spoke, Harry detected not the slightest hint of delay.

"I fully understand—in fact, I strongly agree," Snape said with a cold smile. "I had already intended to propose this to you, only I feared it might seem impolite."

"Really? I'm glad you feel that way," Lucius said with a forced smile.

"Then how shall we elect the new Dark Lord? A one-person-one-vote election?" Dorothy swiftly shifted the topic to implementation. "Should we hold a public referendum?"

"That would be chaos," Sirius remarked neutrally.

"Exactly. Who qualifies to vote?" Lucius added. "We can't let the Order of the Phoenix participate or vote."

"We can use the Dark Mark to verify eligibility," Dorothy proposed seriously.

"No, I believe the Dark Lord's significance lies elsewhere," Snape introduced a point. "It's about strength or prestige, not mere popularity."

"You don't mean to settle this by duel, do you?" Dorothy frowned. "That's too primitive."

"Severus is right. A vote-elected Dark Lord is meaningless," Lucius said. "Voting implies the populace surrendering their power to choose a leader they approve of. But the Dark Lord is not like that—Death Eaters obey the Dark Lord directly. They likely have little understanding of power delegation or the meaning of ballots."

Clearly, Lucius opposed voting. The fanatical Death Eaters bearing the Dark Mark mostly supported Bellatrix. And if the electorate expanded, Lucius still wouldn't gain advantage—he couldn't be sure whether Regulus, who controlled many lower-ranking Death Eaters, truly stood with him.

"A duel may not be ideal, but I still believe strength is one of the Dark Lord's essential credentials," Snape glanced at Lucius. "Let us make a pact: whoever retrieves the ring from the Order of the Phoenix shall become the new Dark Lord—or he may choose to directly resurrect the former Dark Lord."

"No, absolutely not," Harry couldn't help thinking Snape had lost his mind—this was practically inviting Bellatrix to declare war.

"Why not?" Bellatrix glared at him.

"Because—the ring's in the Order's hands—if Order members come carrying it, are we supposed to bow to them?" Harry thought of a loophole.

"Of course not. We can limit the pact to a small group—" Bellatrix glanced at her uneasy colleagues, "—among those present."

"That's a terrible idea—even worse than a duel," Dorothy's lip twitched. "It could easily spark war—not with the Order, but among us. I fear none of you can resist the temptation of power and won't hesitate to tear each other apart."

"Ah, I certainly don't want anyone to lose harmony," Lucius immediately jumped in. "More importantly, it would drain our own strength—we might end up wiped out by the Order altogether."

"But we must have some method of selection, right?" Dorothy spread her hands. "We can't use a qilin, can we?"

"Perhaps…" Lucius's eyes suddenly lit up. "We aren't without a qilin."