Finally, Voldemort decided it was better to hold the first meeting outside. The Dark Lord, together with Nagini and Lucius, went outside the Malfoy Mansion, waiting for the arrival of the Death Eaters.
A little moment later, the air was suddenly full of the swishing of cloaks. All around, the Death Eaters were apparating. The common thing between them was that all of them were hooded and masked. And one by one they moved forward… slowly, cautiously, as though they could hardly believe their eyes. Voldemort stood in silence, observing each one of his followers. Then one of the Death Eaters fell to his knees, crawled toward Voldemort, and kissed the hem of his black robes. "Master… Master…" he murmured.
The Death Eaters behind him did the same; each of them approached Voldemort on his knees and kissed his robes, before backing away and standing up in a circle with Voldemort in the middle. As the Death Eaters looked around, one thing was clear. There were a few gaps in the circle they formed. Unmistakably, there were several Death Eaters missing. Voldemort, however, did not seem to expect them to be filled. He looked around at the hooded faces, and though there was no wind, a rustling seemed to run around the circle.
"Welcome, Death Eaters," said Voldemort quietly. "Thirteen years … thirteen years since last we met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday … We are still united under the Dark Mark, then! Or are we?"
Each one of them felt uncomfortable under his gaze. They watched as the dark lord sniffed, his slit-like nostrils widening. "I smell guilt," he said. "There is a stench of guilt upon the air." A second shiver ran around the circle.
"I see you all, whole and healthy, with your powers intact… such prompt appearances! … and I ask myself … why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?"
"And I answer myself," whispered Voldemort, "they must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies, and they pleaded innocence, ignorance, and bewitchment. And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? They, who knew the steps I took long ago, to guard myself against mortal death? They, who had seen proof of the immensity of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living?
And I answer myself again, perhaps they believed a still greater power could exist, one that could vanquish even Lord Voldemort… perhaps they now pay allegiance to another… perhaps that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles, Albus Dumbledore?"
At the mention of Dumbledore's name, the members of the circle stirred, and some muttered and shook their heads.
Voldemort ignored them.
"It is a disappointment to me … I confess myself disappointed…" One of the men suddenly flung himself forward, breaking the circle. Trembling from head to foot, he collapsed at Voldemort's feet.
"Master!" he shrieked, "Master, forgive me! Forgive us all!"
Voldemort began to laugh. He raised his wand.
"Crucio!"
The Death Eater on the ground writhed and shrieked as Voldemort raised his wand. The tortured Death Eater lay flat on the ground, gasping.
"Get up, Avery," said Voldemort softly. "Stand up. You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive. I do not forget. Thirteen long years… I want thirteen years' repayment before I forgive you.
Wormtail here has paid some of his debt already, have you not, Wormtail?"
Then, emerging from the circle came a big man using a wooden stick to walk. Shortly after, the man removed the Death Eater mask from his face, revealing his identity.
"Mad-Eye Moody," the rest of the Death Eaters exclaimed, not believing their eyes. For a moment, all of them forget that Voldemort just called out for Wormtail. They believed that the Auror who had put so many dark wizards behind Azkaban was really in front of them. How did such a man join the dark side?
But then, as the lingering doubt was still present, they saw the face of Alastor Moody begin to change. The scars were disappearing; the mangled nose became whole and started to shrink. The long mane of grizzled grey hair was withdrawing into the scalp and turning the color of straw. Suddenly, with a loud clunk, the wooden leg fell away as a normal leg regrew in its place; next moment, the magical eyeball popped out of the man's face as a real eye replaced it; it rolled away across the grass and continued to swivel in every direction.
There, standing in the place of Moody was Wormtail. Many of them understood that Wormtail had taken the Polyjuice and could only speculate what happened to the real Moody.
Voldemort moved on and stopped, staring at an empty space in the circle between Malfoy and the next man. It was large enough for two people.
"The Lestranges should stand here," said Voldemort quietly. "But they are imprisoned in Azkaban. They were faithful. They went to Azkaban rather than renounce me… When Azkaban is broken open, the Lestranges will be honored beyond their dreams. The dementors will join us… they are our natural allies… we will recall the banished giants ...
I shall have all my devoted servants returned to me, and an army of creatures whom all fear."
He walked on. For some of the Death Eaters, he passed in silence, but for others, he paused and spoke to them.
"Macnair... destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry of Magic now, Wormtail tells me? You shall have better victims than that soon, Macnair. Lord Voldemort will provide..."
"Thank you, Master ... thank you," murmured Macnair.
"And here," Voldemort moved on to the two largest hooded figures. "We have Crabbe... you will do better this time, will you not, Crabbe? And you, Goyle?"
They bowed clumsily, muttering dully. "Yes, Master..." "We will, Master..."
"The same goes for you, Nott," said Voldemort quietly as he walked past a stooped figure in Mr. Goyle's shadow. "My Lord, I prostrate myself before you, I am your most faithful... "
"That will do," said Voldemort.
He had reached the largest gap of all, and he stood surveying it with his blank, red eyes, as though he could see people standing there.
"And here we have five missing Death Eaters ... four dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return ... he will pay."
Then his attention moved to the last Death Eater present.