As Neal fell unconscious, Harry rushed towards him. For a moment, he forgot about the enmity between them, his own safety, the enemies around, and even the Triwizard cup.
The only thing in his mind is to check Neal's condition whether he's truly dead or not.
However, the enemies around aren't present to be spectators.
Continued to hold the bundle, the short fellow in cloak raised his wand.
"Crucio"
He unleashed an unforgivable curse on Harry Potter, not only stopping him in his tracks but also collapsing on the ground before screaming in pain.
Harry felt as if hot knives were pierced all over his body.
"Stop, Wormtail. He is my opponent. Only I have the right to inflict such onto him." Once again, a high pitch voice escaped from the bundle in his arms.
The short fellow immediately stopped torturing Harry and signaled the two men in black robes and hoods with a silvery mask.
Both of them rushed forward and grabbed Harry's arms from either side, dragging him to the statue of the angel of death.
"Argh…" Harry screamed once again as his back was slammed against the statue before the short man raised his wand and conjured thick ropes.
Harry struggled to get free but because of the earlier torture, he was feeling weak at the moment, and eventually, he was tied to the statue. They made sure that he cannot move either of his arms or legs.
The cloaked man finally arrived at the statue. Harry's eyes fell on him. He recognized the fellow. "You…" He gasped.
But, in the next fraction of a second, his eyes fell on the bundle and saw the hand of a baby, probably about one-year-old that is out of the bundle.
*Hisss*
He then saw a gigantic snake slithering through the grass and stopped when it passed by Neal's body. It stared at the body curiously and circled it for a while before it went towards the statue and bared its fangs at the boy.
While Harry continued to struggle to get free, Wormtail returned to the cauldron with the baby in a bundle and aimed his wand. The flames generated beneath the cauldron.
The cauldron which was filled with some liquid now heat up at a rapid pace. Soon, bubbles started to appear.
"Now," The baby spoke once again.
Wormtail removed the bundle and finally revealed the baby.
Harry closed his eyes by its hideous appearance. It was hairless, slimy, and scaly-looking with thin arms and legs. Perhaps, the most striking feature of the baby is its red gleaming eyes.
Wormtail proceeds to throw the baby into the cauldron after a bit of hesitation.
As the baby drowned in the liquid, he proceeded with the next step while two death eaters and a giant python were guarding the area.
"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"
He threw the bone of the Thomas riddle, then, cut his own hand and offered it to the mixture, after that, took a few drops of blood of Harry and added it to the mixture before swirling for a few times and closing the lid.
At first, Harry didn't know what is happening but slowly, as he remembered the dream from the summer, everything fell into place. As a helpless teenager with a weak body, he could only now hope that something goes wrong and the baby gets killed so that whatever Wormtail or Peter Pettigrew was doing would fail. Not even a potion master can be 100% sure that his potion will be a success in one try. This is what Harry was putting his bets on.
Unfortunately for Harry, at the moment, the goddess of luck refuses to smile at him.
About 10 minutes later, the lid of the cauldron was pushed away and a fleshy tall and skeletally thin man stepped out of the cauldron.
"The dark lord had returned. Lord Voldemort had finally returned." The two death eaters revealed their faces finally.
Wormtail immediately robed him and this pale-faced man turned his head and stared at Harry with scarlet eyes.
Harry felt his scar on the forehead burned a lot when their gazes met but it died down quickly as the man looked away from him, turning towards the short fellow while the two death eaters stood in silence.
"Wormtail, my wand." He reached out to Peter Pettigrew, to which, the latter handed him a wand with a shivering hand.
A while ago, Wormtail cut off his own hand. So, he was feeling the pain too but he managed to bear it until the potion becomes a success. Now that he was relieved with the official return of his master, the extreme pain kicked back.
The first thing Voldemort did is to grab his left arm and rolled up the sleeves, revealing a serpent-like tattoo but with a skull over the top.
He pressed the wand onto the tattoo, "Let's see how many fools try to stay away."
As Wormtail was weeping over the lost arm, the man looked at the two death eaters, "Corban, Regulus, my faithful followers. I knew that you will not betray me."
He looked a bit happier to see these two loyal followers who appeared during his rise. That means a lot to Voldemort.
"We always will, my lord." Both of them bowed on one knee.
Continuing to wait for his remaining death eaters, Voldemort swept his eyes around the place until he saw Neal's body. "He looks familiar to me."
33-year-old Regulus Black stepped forward and pointed at Neal, "My lord, this is Neal Slytherin."
"Aha, so this is the brat I saw in the newspaper during the last summer." Voldemort let out a comment and walked towards Neal.
He slightly pushed Neal's face with the leg, "such a handsome boy. Well, he got an easy death. For vying to become the next dark lord, I would have given him and that Avery, a gruesome death. Never mind, he isn't someone important."
Voldemort shifted his attention back to Harry who was trying his best to get out of the binding. He finally calls his name. "Harry Potter, the boy who lived."
He said in a husky tone. It was like a loud whisper to Harry.
When Harry didn't pay attention to his words, Voldemort raised his wand. An invisible spell hit him, forcing his head to turn towards Voldemort.
"You stand at the remains of my late father," Voldemort continued, "He's a filthy muggle, just like your mother. I killed my father and although I killed your mother too, it was unintentional. It's more like she came in the middle and ended up dead while trying to save you. So, in a way, you killed your mother too.
Your mother defended you from the spell and my father's remains helped me return back from the dead.
Both of your parents died and left you as an orphan, leaving you from not knowing your true heritage.
Although my father was alive, he left my mother when I was in her womb. She died giving childbirth, leaving me as an orphan. Until that Dumbledore came to the doorstep, I never knew about my true heritage.
In a way, you lived a life similar to Lord Voldemort. You can be proud that Lord Voldemort named you as his greatest adversary."
Voldemort let out a grin, which was actually quite terrifying for Harry to even look at.
As he finished with small talk, people started to arrive one after another. They were hooded and masked.
"My true family returns… death eaters."