Chapter 311: Of Scaly Yields
If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.
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4 January 1995, Durmstrang
Just like that, he felt a pull in his navel… A portkey… The last thing he felt before passing out was intense pain in his scar as well as dread at the familiar red eyes gleaming maliciously at him…
When Neville woke up, he felt burning pain in his forehead, specifically his scar. When he finally recognized the feeling, all he could feel was dread. His scar had only burned in two scenarios. The first was when he channelled its power when he was almost becoming a second Lord Voldemort, and to fix this had cost him his position as the next Longbottom family head. The second time was in his first year when Voldemort was physically near him.
By Merlin, this was so long ago… Had it really been three years since he last seen Lord Voldemort, the real Voldemort, at least? Did Tom Riddle – from the diary – even count?
But the burning, it was pretty similar to what he felt when Voldemort was nearby. It was more consistent like someone put some hot metal on his scar. Damn it, he really needed to get out of here…
He tried to move for the first time, only to notice himself being chained to a wall in some sort of cave… He thrashed around many times, until a familiar voice interrupted him, "I'm afraid that your chains are charmed to be unbreakable, young Neville, and you do not have a wand on you…"
A somewhat familiar man stepped up in front of him. He was dark-haired, pale with a somewhat slim body. He would have been unremarkable if it wasn't for the glowing red eyes on his face. He would recognize these eyes anywhere, "Voldemort…"
"In the flesh," the man retorted, "Well, in young Amycus' flesh. It was a shame that I had to deprive him of his own… He was so loyal, though, so very loyal… These kinds of followers are quite rare. But his sister will be compensated for his sacrifice."
Ah, so that was why the face was so recognizable… Amycus Carrow… Neville's grandmother had practically drilled him on the Death Eaters who had bribed their way out of Azkaban. In the Carrows' case, it was probably because they were the last of their family line and the ministry loathed to end those, even if everyone knew about their actions…
Neville didn't say anything and just glared at the monster through the pain, "You know, I had this very big ritual planned up. It would have been so complicated, would have had to have been performed during the summer solstice to have enough power, with some very complicated potion and everything… Imagine how lucky I was when I realized that there was an immense magical release during every single one of those pesky tasks… It was probably Dumbledore's doing… Who would have thought that the old man would be the one who gave me such an opportunity? Now, all I had to do was wait…"
Before Neville could say anything, runes from all over the cave started to light up and the red-eyed monster grinned. He took out a small bone in the shape of a spike and murmured, "Bone of the father, unknowingly given, to renew the son… Flesh of the servant, willingly given to revive the master…"
Then Neville felt a small sting on his foot, which quickly started to burn… He saw a massive snake – how did he not notice it before? – biting his leg, which slowly started to drip blood on the ground.
The dark lord slowly soaked the spiky end of the bone in the blood and murmured, "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, to resurrect the foe…"
Suddenly, the man stabbed himself in the chest and the runes' glow turned red.
Neville prayed to every possible deity that the ritual wouldn't have worked, that Lord Voldemort had made a mistake and killed himself. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case, as Amycus Carrow's body started to slowly morph. His features shifted grotesquely; his face elongated, his hair retracted into his scalp, and his skin became smoother. The transformation continued, bones cracking and reshaping with eerie sounds, until the figure standing before Neville no longer resembled Amycus at all.
Instead, before him stood a man who looked remarkably like an older Tom Riddle, yet with a more sinister presence. His face was now more mature, with high cheekbones and a cold, calculating expression, but the same dark, piercing eyes that once belonged to the young man who became Voldemort. His lips curled into a cruel smile as he flexed his reborn body, relishing in his renewed strength.
"Ah, that feels good," Voldemort said as he stretched his body, "You have no idea how uncomfortable it is to be in someone else's body. Everything just feels wrong… Now, what to do with you?"
The Dark Lord knelt towards him, looking into his eyes. Neville felt the Legilimency attack trying to sneak his secrets and did his best to clear his mind with his mediocre skill in Occlumency. Seeing the Dark Lord being so close, a small plan formed in Neville's head. He suddenly thrashed and got his leg to touch the Dark Lord's own…
He expected the man to burst into flames as Quirrell did… Imagine his surprise when nothing happened and the monster simply chuckled, "You're cleverer than most people give you credit, I'll admit that Longbottom… Well, not really, more like you're more resourceful. This would have been a nice plan had I not designed the ritual to specifically counter your mother's blood protection… After all, your blood now runs in my veins and your protection, bound in blood, cannot differentiate between you and me anymore. Which means, I can touch you now…"
Neville felt his enemy's finger touch his forehead and thought his head would explode from the pain. Sure, his scar had hurt him before, but not like this… Never like this….
When Voldemort let go, Neville gasped in relief, and mumbled, "That's why you used my blood…"
"Of course… Although, it would have been… cleaner… if I had retrieved your blood during your trip here, to Durmstrang… I wouldn't have had to resort to taking over poor Amycus' body to get inside and would have just been able to use the Winter Solstice with a bit of your blood to return. Abducting you was much louder than I would have liked…"
A memory just trickled into Neville's mind, "The attack on the Hogwarts Express. That was you…"
"Yes. They were only supposed to steal a vial of your blood… Amycus was the one to lead them, and he knew what the price for his failure would have been. To fail to attack a small group of teenagers with a single adult witch, one that happened to be overwhelmed while piloting the damn dragon was more than disappointing enough… They had an army at their back, that's not to mention the dragons… Then again, Harry Potter was always going to be an unpredictable variable. But even with him being there, distracting the boy for enough time to take a vial of blood shouldn't have been that hard…"
Neville remembered something… Harry looked around his body when the Hogwarts Express was attacked, trying to find any sign of bleeding. Did he know about this? Did he know that Voldemort would have needed his blood to resurrect himself?
No, this wasn't the time to ponder, he needed to find a way to escape before Voldemort inevitably got tired of talking and started killing him…
Speaking of the Dark Lord, he continued monologuing, "At least, he accepted his punishment with honour. He did not run away. That's more than I could say for most of my former inner circle, not that many of them are left. The Lestranges and poor Barty were killed by that damnable Evans woman. Lucius is also dead, at the hands of some serial killer. Rookwood, Dolohov, Rosier, and Greyback were given the dementor's kiss and Macnair is in prison. Poor Mulciber died at the hands of Potter during the attack on the Hogwarts Express, and now even Amycus Carrow is lost to me… The rest have betrayed me, Snape, Nott, and worst of all, Karkaroff. He will die soon, even if he was instrumental in you easily coming here…"
Neville's confusion should have been obvious since the Dark Lord chuckled, "Oh, don't be so surprised… Did you not suspect anything when there were no teams around you, where the other schools were attacked by hundreds of creatures while you only had to walk to the cave? Even the serpent was only instructed to let a speaker touch the stone… Every road you took led you to this moment, to my return… To think you're supposed to be my equal… If you hadn't survived my curse head-on, I would have thought that this prophecy was a farce… Perhaps, I simply chose wrong, and Potter was my equal all along…"
The young wizard gasped, "What prophecy?"
"You do not know? How surprising… I would have thought Dumbledore would have told you… Why do you think I attacked your family on that fateful night… I did many reprehensible things during the war, that I will admit, but my aim was not to end family lines. I always wanted one thing in life and that was to kill Albus Dumbledore, to take away his hold over Magical Britain and let it prosper once more… It's ironic, how he lost control over the country just by himself… But I still wish to kill him… To stop this endless cycle of war and death… It would have been more advantageous to simply take you, raise you with one of my families and gain a valuable old family at my back… There is no logic in killing children, after all… And yet, I tried to kill you… And failed, for that matter…"
He sighed and continued, "There was a prophecy of a child born at the end of July that would be my equal... I narrowed it down to two, Harry Potter and you. I chose you because you had the purer blood and tasked Bellatrix to kill the other boy… She would fail, and so did I… Sometimes I think I chose wrong. When I compare you and Potter, it's like night and day… You're just such a disappointment, Neville… But that's enough chitchat… I don't even know why I'm talking to you… Perhaps, I am being merciful, giving you answers as you slowly succumb to Nagini's venom… Hmm… Perhaps, I am giving you a kindness…"
"You're going to lose," Neville simply stated.
The red-eyed man looked amused, "Is that so? You're dying now, alone. Well, with your only company being the man who murdered your parents… You're slowly wasting away until you die and fade into the abyss…"
"If I die, then I'm not the prophecy child, am I? That means that you'll always wonder if you picked wrong… The question will keep niggling into your head and you'll have to face him… Harry Potter…"
The man's eyes glowed with his glare and Neville started to giggle, "I see it now… You're not a monster, not like people like to portray you are… Maybe like how you would like the world to see you… You're just a coward, afraid of Death… I see it in your eyes, the sheer terror at the thought… In fearing Death, you have not found anything worth living for… You haven't found anything worth dying for. And for that, I pity you… When I die, my parents will greet me on the other side… Who would greet you, I wonder… Will anyone even care?"
Just like that, the smile disappeared from Voldemort's face, and he sneered at Neville, "There is nothing on the other side, boy, just darkness and nothingness. When you die, you will not be greeted by your parents. You will not be greeted by anyone… You will fade away in the void until you become the nothingness around you… But now, I suppose it's time for you to experience that. Goodbye, Neville Longbottom…"
The Dark Lord raised his wand, prepared to cast a killing curse at the bound and dying boy, only for a large crack to resonate all over the cave. Voldemort cast a shield, blocking a bolt of lightning coming his way and turned towards it with an amused smile on his face, "Oh, how unexpected… Of all the people who would track me down, I did not expect you…"
Even through his blurring vision, Neville saw Hermione Granger's face looking at the Dark Lord with a neutral expression on her face, "Hello, Tom Riddle…"
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AN: So, Voldemort is finally back. I changed up the ritual a bit since I think it was more suitable to how I portrayed magic in the story and I tried to tie it to what happened during the Hogwarts Express attack... I know most of you don't like chapters without Harry in them but I honestly believe that Voldemort's return should be a Neville-centric event.
Nevertheless, I decided that it was time for Voldemort to come back (You'll understand after a couple of chapters), and he will be a pretty important character in the future, especially as he tries to rebuild his power base.
To be honest, I'm excited to finally use him as a character, especially since I sort of kept him in the background. Anyway, as usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.