Ch. 146 He’s back~

It was interesting watching this stuff happen in real life.

There were minor changes due my actions of course, the biggest was the presence the Crabbe and Goyle Sr. They were supposed to appear after being summoned alongside Lucius, Nott Sr, Avery and Macnair, but it looks like they've really been aiding their lord alongside wormtail.

Avery and Macnair were already dead and the rest were those with children currently in Hogwarts, hence they weren't on the assassination list I gave Jennifer.

It's disappointing that I won't get to see the overgrown child throw a tantrum when he realizes a good amount of his lieutenants just disappeared.

But I was watching everything as it was described besides the little differences.

Fortunately there was no dead Cedric. Fate, destiny or whatever god didn't feel it was important enough to have that happen for almost no reason at this moment. Harry was still forced to give blood though and that's why I didn't key his blood into the Bones House. But that does remind me that I should create some new runes to help protect Grimmauld Place.

I like the chant for a dark lord revival ritual though, very fitting.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son.

Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master.

Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe."

Always felt weird it was in English when older languages would offer a much better effect, but when your options are Pettigrew, Goyle or Crabbe you have to make things easier to not have it blow up in your face.

Speaking of faces...

The man really has no noes or body hair.

I mean, I always called him an egg and had the image in my head, but seeing it is another thing.

The man has no noes, no eyebrows, hair, facial hair, grayish skin, red eyes, on the skinny side and he's rubbing his head like it's a freaking crystal ball.

How fucked up do you have to be to turn from fairly attractive and nice hair to that?

He just keeps trying to escape death so much that he would sacrifice even his humanity for it. He cares not for allies, servants, his own goals or himself even, only his life and power matter. As long as he can live he will sacrifice pretty much anything.

And here come the only two free death eaters I know have the dark mark, are willing to come at the moment and aren't in Azkaban.

Some ranting about loyalty from Voldy-doldy-doo, some groveling from Lucius as always, Wormtail getting a new hand, Harry just watching as all this happens and two lumbering idiots standing in the background not doing anything.

I just gotta wonder why mother never asked Harry to pass the memory of the night after his claims. I know for a fact that the woman would take the words of the-boy-who-lived and Albus many names Dumbledore even if she disagreed with him on many topics. One stands to gain nothing from saying the dork lord returned and the other could lose everything, while both are famous for their fight against him. The only way I could see her not doing it is if the minister somehow blocked her completely or buried her in other work.

Oh, it seems like Moldy wants to prove that the sixty year old dark lord is better than the 14 year old halfway through his schooling. Still as pathetic a mentality as ever but I think that's enough. No need for Harry to suffer through this any longer than necessary.

So with that thought I activated the portkey I had hidden as the elastic holding my hair together and off I went.

Feeling the familiar tugging around the bellybutton, I landed expertly and heard two things: Crucio and screaming.

Without further ado I simply used my wand to bring Harry to my side, getting him out of the casting of the unforgivable and startling everyone with my sudden appearance.

"Now now, it isn't very nice for someone of the older generation to bully the younger one. Where is your pride?" I said in a jovial tone as pretty much everyone was frozen at my words.

"Aedan?" Harry asked in confusion as he was getting over the pain.

"Hey Harry. Guessing you weren't having a fun time with this crappy thriller rip-off. I'll give them points for actually being in a graveyard but honestly, did you have to insult the king of pop by not having a nose. Have some respect." I say aloud to the great confusion of pretty much everyone present.

"Yeah, wait a second! Why are you here? We've got to go! That's Voldemort!" The kid said in response as the situation came back to him.

"Yeah I can see that since he has no noes, hair or sense of fashion. I mean look at him, he looks like an egg that went bad. How can anyone take him seriously? He looks like he fucked up a ritual and transfiguration at once and then decided to role with it." I mockingly answered as my insults snapped the idiots out of their stupors.

"How dare you insult me! I am Voldemort! The most powerful wizard in history! I will not be insulted by a child! Avada Kedavra!" He shouted with a point of his wand.

With a slight shift in my stance and raise of my arm, the spell just went through my robe and harmlessly flew away from me.

"Wow, you still suck. Did you being stuck to Quirrell worsen your aim or something? Or was it the decade hiding under a rock?" I mocked once again as I saw veins becoming more apparent on his hairless noggin.

"I remember you now! The silver-haired child who gave me headache inducing amounts of homework whenever it was assigned. You alone took away hours of my time which I could have used to obtain the stone and return. I could have saved years of my time if it wasn't for you!" The increasingly veiny egg angrily spat at me.

"You did deserve it. Did you have the fill the room with so much garlic? Do you know how annoying it was to get that smell out of my everything? And that stupid stutter? It was so fucking annoying to listen that performance you two had called acting. Jumping at every sound, not understanding how a real stutter works, not teaching anything and that stupidity you pulled with the troll. All of it was too annoying to ignore." I berated with a justified look on my face.

"You knew Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort?" Harry asked in shock at the revelation.

"Yup. Had a talk with the Headmaster about letting the moron loose in the school. Not the best idea, but he was so closely monitored that it was better to let him think he wasn't." I answered with a smile as I mocked the hairless one with my eyes.

"YOU! AVADA KEDAVRA!!" Voldy shouted in rage as his little minions backed away slightly, afraid of getting caught in their lords little tamper tantrum.

With a little jump to the side and a silent push of Harry, the spell once again flew away without hitting anyone.

"Do you seriously not know any other spells beyond the Unforgivables? You've got no class unless it's Dumbledore is that it? Pretty insulting. But let's do it like you did with Harry, a proper duel." I said with a cat-like smile on my face at this point.

It actually took a moment before everyone's brain had caught up to what I just said.

"You, are challenging me, to a duel?" An incredulous Voldemort asked, most likely because aside of the headmaster no one dared to do so.

"Yup. I, Lord Aedan Micheal Bones, Head of Most Noble of Bones, challenge you, someone who's real name or descent is unknown but claims to be the heir of Slytherin, to a duel. You said you wanted the niceties and now you have them. Shall we bow?" I regally declared as I also mocked the fact that these so called noble purebloods are following someone they actually don't have a clue about.

"You have no right to challenge the Dark Lord boy. Know your place you half-blood." Spat out Lucius as he tried to endear himself.

"Oh please be quiet you imbecilic baboon. From what I just said, who exactly has the higher grounds when it comes to those pureblood ideals you lot always blabber on about? The legitimate and recognized lord of a noble house with 300 years of history in this country, or the man who simply appeared out of nowhere, called himself the heir of Slytherin and has no actual titles to back it up? I would also be worrying about your own situations instead of trying to kiss his ass right now Lucy. I could have sent you to Azkaban whenever I wanted before, imagine what I could do with the memory of tonight's events. How much could I make you dance with it do you think? Last time I made you vomit blood, this time I might give you a full on heart attack." I countered with a manic smile on my face as he became so pale it was like he was turned into a vampire.

"Enough of this nonsense! You challenged and insulted me boy. Let me show you why little half-bloods like you should bow to their betters." Said the seething walking tombstone reject as rage was lacing his voice.

The declaration made his little followers quiet and move behind their lord as we would now duel.

"Harry, they're going to be distracted when this starts. I want you to grab the cup when you have the chance and head back to Hogwarts and tell the Headmaster what happened. I can more than handle myself and I've got about four different ways of escaping if things go south for me so don't hesitate alright?" I order the kid with a whisper before walking to my own position, forcing him to reluctantly nod. "Good, I'll see you in a bit and don't you worry. I am much stronger than you think."

And now I stood in front of the most feared man in Britain. A madman who simply wants to lord over others and achieve a twisted form of immortality due to his stupid fears and conclusions on life he had as a kid.

'I need to hone myself properly. Not many chances to have a fight I can let myself go so much.' I thought as I prepared.

Since my third maturation the only person who can offer a meaty enough challenge is Albus, but he is older and tired, even if he is still powerful. We've agreed to simply have him give advice on certain spells, tips gained from experience or feedback on projects I was working on, but we didn't duel against one another. The Headmaster needed all the strength he could muster for the times ahead and we both knew it. It was a sad fact for the both of us, but that was life. The man has been alive for over 110 years, fought through two wars and has suffered a lot of hardship, he's ready to let go and has been very happy to find someone capable of holding down the fort after he passes, even if we don't share the same ideologies.

But now I have Voldemort in pretty much all his glory, goaded into a duel, and I can't let that opportunity pass. It is a great way to understand the peak of this world and my own strength.

'I don't have my gear, he has a few supporters but only Lucius has some degree of skills and I have to make sure Harry doesn't get hit by stray spells or sneak attacks. On the other hand, I can easily escape in a number of ways, my white magic could decimate these assholes completely tainted by dark magic, I can block their favorite spell and they have no clue about my real strength. So all in all I think I'll do good' I thought as I analyzed the situation quickly and decided on a plan to use classic spells and skills instead of my originals.

"Then let's begin shall we?" I say to the twisted man in front of me as I activate my mind acceleration.

"You shall kneel at my feet and beg for death as I break you and the leftovers of your house." He hissed at me in response.

"Aunty would bend you over and discipline you like a naughty child." I replied with a smirk, causing him to attack first.

I knew everything the man knew about dark magic so identifying what he shot at me wasn't difficult, but his speed was certainly a mild surprise. He moved much faster than his body indicates it should and I felt no magic actively improving his body like I was. My guess was that he undertook rituals to strengthen his body and that was related to what happened to me back then.

But this was only a mild surprise.

Bone-crushing hex aimed at my left arm was deflected using the off-hand technique duelers often used by creating a small but solid Protego in their hand to deflect a spell. Following that was a Crucio which I made a small rock jump in the path off and making it explode. Chained in quick succession was the blood-boiling curse which I deflected into his innard-twisting hex, then blocking a withering curse, ending with a blasting curse I deflected into the middle of our dueling space to create a momentary obstruction.

I decided on a modified cutting charm, a very powerful and heavy one as my opening move, resulting in the ground it traveled over to have a visible slash under it as it travelled, chaining up with the piercing hex directly where my first spell was blocked to cause cracks in the protective spell used and then a Bombarda Maxima to shatter it completely and forcing poor Tom to take a step back.

He was shocked his defense was so quickly broken through, but I didn't give him time to recover that easily.

My next chain began as I fired a quick Flipendo-expelliarmus-stupefy combo at such speed they nearly came at the same time, causing the great lord to dodge basics dueling spells in a hurry.

I then used minor transfiguration to soften the ground under his feet and turn it to mud, making his footing very unstable for a man with no shoes on apparently.

I wanted to keep my rhythm going but he knew that would end well and was getting mad that such elementary spellwork was causing him trouble, so he shot out a blasting curse in retaliation, forcing me to defend against it directly and stopping my flow.

His counter offensive then turned brutal and subtle.

He began with Expulso which was resisted by my already present shield, but I was forced to dodge when he shot a killing curse as a follow up. What surprised me was that I then felt a wave of force push me back slightly during my dodge, putting me a bit off balance when I saw a disintegration curse heading my way. I immediately understood that the door knob used wandless magic to throw me off as I saw his upraised hand, hoping it would be enough to hit me with that nasty little curse. Too bad I simply used my momentum to dodge the third spell with a spin to the opposite direction and fired a Glacius tria as a response and added my own push to Voldy's left leg to break his balance.

Unfortunately the old man was very experienced, pushing back using his own wandless abilities and deflecting the incoming spell with relative ease before shooting a crucio my way and forcing me to dodge again.

It was at this point that a sense of rhythm began between the two of us as we slung spells, hexes and curses at each other while sneakily attacking with wandless magic in the middle of it all, causing our audience to lose itself in the display of skill and power.

"Harry go now!" I suddenly shouted as the kid remembered what he was supposed to do and Accio'd the cup to himself before disappearing.

Voldy wanted to stop him or order his minions to do so, but it was too late and he couldn't stop defending against my attacks or he could lose as well.

"You should not have gotten in the way of my will meddlesome boy. Now I will personally make sure you suffer through pain beyond your imagination." He venomously spat at me in rage.

"How? By making me look like you?" I said in response as he felt rage once again, not noticing that we were looking into each other's eyes and not realizing how powerful of a legilimen I was.

The result was that I now had the advantage of knowing what spells he was going to use before he finished casting them.

So for the next few exchanges I began to overwhelm him using the severing, stunning and disarming charms, mixing petrificus totalus and bombardas into the mix as well, almost disarming him and leaving a nasty gash on his chest.

Too bad he realized the problem very quickly and looked away for my shining blue eyes.

"You dare look into my mind! I will not take this insult lightly you blasted son of a mudblood!" He ranted once again, but it seemed like he was going to kick things up a notch.

He began throwing transfiguration into the mix by making the reaper statues used to restrain Harry previously, attack me with its scythe.

Something I just fixed by making the thing a pile of sand and using that to counter as I blocked his sight and spells as it rushed towards him relentlessly.

His solution was to raise the mud I had created to engulf the sand and force it down to the ground.

He then conjured a few knives and shot them at me at great speed. Easily fixed by transfiguring them into ferrets and letting them flop to the ground and running away.

"I grow tired of wasting my time against a half-blood like you. Now burn." He declared as he pointed his wand and summoned the most aggressive magical flames known to wizard kind: Fiendfyre.

My response was simple. Water.

Lots and lots of water.

A ridiculous amount of water.

Which I kept conjuring and controlling as I shaped a rapidly expanding wall of the stuff.

I could feel the cursed fire almost smashing itself against its natural enemy in blind rage.

I then began fighting against the barely controlled flame Voldycunt had summoned. The two opposite forces of nature clashing as steam was continually created from the fight.

The flames were aggressively trying to break the water, while my water ensnared and suffocated it in response.

But I could feel the flow of magic in my body, the way it wanted to go and the way the spell could improve by following the magic itself and responding to my intent.

The result was a massive increase in the amount of water I could produce and my rapidly increasing dominance over the fiendfyre. But I wasn't paying attention to that in the moment. The feeling was more important. The feeling of following the flow of magic wanting to responded to my intent and how it would achieve that through me. I was almost in a trance as I controlled the water to then smother the flame and crash towards the source.

The feeling of so much magic going through me was fascinating to say the least, but I managed to reign in my loosing grip on myself. I could not lose myself in the euphoric feeling of such power. And so I consciously made the water ram into the man desperately trying to stop the ragging tide coming towards him, but failing to do more than freezing, vanishing or controlling a small fraction of the massive amount water.

The end results were devastating.

The cemetery in front of me was completely ruined, the death eaters swept away in the waves and Voldemort stood there panting and soaking wet as he glared at me.

But this wasn't easy on me either, a spell of that magnitude took a lot of magic and my own reserves were running low after that stunt.

"Well I think we can call this one a draw. I've got other stuff to do so I'll be on my way. See y'a." I said with a jovial smile and activated my elastic once again, only to feel the familiar tugging.

You see, the target of the portkey isn't a place, it's the cup itself. A cleaver manipulation of special targeting that I am very proud of in fact. The elastic will be basically useless after today of course, but this opens many possibilities in the future.

But as I was thinking about my little creation, what I gained from the fight and continued to dust off my cloths, I realized something as I focused on my surroundings.

"What's everyone gawking at?" I asked the entire crowd looking at me with weird looks.

"Aedan you're alive!" A sudden voice shouted out, recognizing Harry as he came forward.

"Of course I'm alive. Why in the hell wouldn't I be?" I asked as I looked at him in confusion.

"Because you were fighting Voldemort!" He answered back loudly, making a lot of people flinch.

"Oh that. Me dying was never much of a possibility, but from the looks on a lot of peoples faces and the minister turning purple and white, I think it would be better to have this discussion somewhere private. Don't you agree Headmaster?" I respond as I look at the concerned looking elder who was shielding the two of us from the crowed now.

"A splendid idea Mr. Bones. Cornelius, I am sure we can get everything sorted out in the castle." He nodded in agreement as he hinted at the Minister to not make a scene right this moment, or not a bigger one than he was making before I arrived.

"You can take my office Albus. It's close, private and secure. No ones getting in when you're talking." A visibly twitchier Moody offered.

"Thank you Alastor. Now if everyone will follow me. I am sure the officials in charge will be handling the situation here well while we get to the bottom of things." The headmaster said as he led all the important people to the castle.

'Time for the final act the my student years.' I thought as I followed along with a small smile on my face.