hpml281-290

Chapter 281

Shiva had opened her mouth to reply as a pop drew everyone's attention back to the

platform. Fleur – covered completely in feathers – materialized in midair on the platform

falling to the center with the Triwizard Trophy crushed underneath her chest. Tonks and

Hermione were already jumping onto the stand as Shiva started to move towards it as

well.

"Non! NON!" Fleur pushed herself up and desperately dropped and picked up the trophy.

"Ramenez-moi! Ramenez-moi!" When nothing happened she screamed and threw it into

the floor before grabbing hold of it again. Fire formed in her hand and her wings tore the

back of her shirt as she lifted the trophy again.

Hermione crashed into Fleur from behind and wrapped her arms around the older girl.

"Fleur, stop! Stop! It's not helping! Where is he? What happened?!"

"Ils vont le tuer! Arrêtez, laissez-moi!" Fleur screamed again clutching the trophy as tears

fell from her eyes.

Harry slowly clawed his way back to consciousness. His scar was throbbing in pain and his

back and wrists were sore. Keeping his eyes squeezed shut he tried to piece together the

last few minutes. He remembered landing in a graveyard. He remembered Fleur kissing

him. He remembered someone on a hill shouting out the Killing Curse. He'd moved

without thinking – his left hand had been up enough that he'd been able to hit Fleur with a

low powered Knockback. She had fallen forwards onto the Triwizard Trophy with the curse

sailing by close enough thread through her hair. Fleur had vanished. The figure had

launched a stunner and Harry hadn't moved fast enough. That was when everything went

dark.

Fleur was safe.

So were Fred and Krum and the creatures from the labyrinth. They'd gotten to trophy in

time.

A trapped trophy that dropped him straight into an ambush and his only way out was now

gone. Brilliant. Absolutely bloody brilliant. He had no idea how to apparate, couldn't make

a portkey, a graveyard was not a likely place to find a Floo and lord only knew how close

the nearest street was to try and summon the Knight Bus assuming the thing wasn't too far

away. That last option wasn't even possible unless he could find a wand. And escape from

whatever was holding him down.

There was definitely something holding him down. Harry could hear quiet murmurs nearby

so he didn't risk opening his eyes. Instead he concentrated on the feeling in his body and

with a slight twitch realized it was ropes. He was tied to a rather large headstone with his

arms spread to the sides and palms turned backwards, hanging slightly off from the

headstone. He grudgingly admitted that whoever had done that was intelligent. This way

he couldn't use his Knockback tattoo to try and destroy the marker like he could have if it

had been under his hand. The Boomstone had potential usage still but that wouldn't help

him break free of the ropes. And Harry knew the Lava Bomb was a lost cause with his arms

spread so far.

The light in the graveyard was bright even with his eyes closed so he assumed whoever

had him knew about his animagus' abilities and had taken some precautions. It didn't

matter at the moment anyway with the way he was bound. Shifting into Midnight would

just end up suffocating him.

He briefly considered one option to get away, but almost immediately discarded it. There

was already only a small chance that whoever had kidnapped him hadn't destroyed his

runes. Even if they hadn't…Harry'd much rather wander around the woods for hours trying

to find a road rather than risk using the tracekey. It was not remotely ready for a large

scale test. Not with a living body at least. Especially not through Hogwarts wards.

"It is ready, Master," the muttering voice suddenly said at a normal volume. Harry couldn't

help the flinch he gave as he recognized that voice. Peter Pettigrew. Brilliant.

"Start the ritual…Wormtail…" a rasping wheeze spoke. Harry's eyes flew open at that. That

was the same wheeze that had said to kill Fleur. And it was horribly familiar too.

Something he hadn't heard since he was 11.

As Harry's eyes adjusted to the light, he saw Pettigrew pick up a grotesque bundle only

slightly larger than a baby. The head was too large, the limbs too small and the entire thing

was black with skin that almost appeared charred. The eyes though were blazing red and

as Pettigrew turned those eyes locked onto Harry's and a grin split across its features.

"Awake at last, Harry? Just in time…to witness my rebirth."

Harry felt a spike of fear and dread settle into his spine and his scar throbbed painfully. He

tried to ignore all of that though and forced a veneer of calm as he stared at Voldemort.

"So you go from Quirrellmort to Diarymort to Babymort? You're getting more pathetic

every time we run across each other, Riddle," Harry snorted.

Babymort chuckled confidently. "We shall see…just how 'pathetic' I am. Wormtail! Begin!"

"Yes, Master," Pettigrew said. He cast one final spell at the cauldron sitting inside a large,

intricate ritual circle. The liquid started to bubble and churn. Pettigrew stepped carefully

over the lines and dropped Babymort into the cauldron. Harry uttered a short prayer that

the evil little homunculus would drown even if he knew the odds of that happening were

probably close to zero.

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Chapter 282

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

imperiously as he waved his wand and the grave under Harry's feet shifted slightly. A

moment later, a small pale bone soared out of the grave and into the cauldron which

turned the boiling liquid into a poisonous blue color.

Harry glared at Pettigrew. "Why are you doing this? Just let him die for good! He murdered

your best friend! He's killed and tortured hundreds if not thousands of people. He's

destroyed countless lives. Why are you doing this?!"

Pettigrew had grabbed a silver knife and stepped up to the cauldron. He paused and

looked over at Harry with a weary expression on his gaunt face. "I chose my lot when I told

him where to find James. No matter who I serve now, I'm going to die in pain and begging

for it to end. At least with him, I will likely have some sort of mercifully quick death at your

side's hands. If I stopped helping now he would…it would be worse than anything I could

imagine. I am sorry, Harry Potter. Flesh…flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed, you will

revive your master." Pettigrew turned his head away and his chest heaved. A quick

downward stroke with the large knife lopped off the man's hand and a scream of pain and

anguish rang out through the graveyard.

Harry twisted his head to the side fighting down the urge to vomit. Pettigrew kept sobbing

with his stump clutched to his chest for several seconds before eventually pulling a rag

from the side and tying it off around his forearm using his remaining hand and his teeth.

Still nauseous, Harry cautiously glanced in the man's direction and saw that the boiling

potion had turned a burning red and was letting off light sparks. Pettigrew finally finished

with his hand and tottered unsteadily to his feet.

As his captor started to stumble towards him, Harry tried to twist his hand enough to get

his Knockback rune angled correctly. Even if he couldn't hit Pettigrew he might be able to

nudge the edge of the ritual circle which would be hopefully enough to throw a wrench

into things. Unfortunately the rat had been very thorough in his application of ropes. His

hand was firmly wedged well away from the circle.

Briefly Harry tried to summon Pettigrew himself using his accio tattoo in his other palm

thinking that maybe he'd get lucky and the flying body would disturb something in the

circle. Again he was hit with failure as absolutely nothing happened. One of them had

obviously gotten smart and spelled themselves against that charm. Pettigrew started to

step over the last lines when Harry tried his last gamble. He channeled power into the

Boomstone tattoo.

That was a mistake. A cry of pain almost as bad as Pettigrew's had been rang out over the

graveyard and Harry sagged in his bonds against the stone. His right hand felt like it'd been

dipped in fire and he could barely think through the pain. Panting in short, ragged gasps,

Harry squinted through tear filled eyes down towards his right hand and saw faint lines cut

into the back of it right across the runic tattoo. It wasn't much but it was enough to disrupt

the magical channels.

Pettigrew shrugged as he pulled up and jerked his head towards Harry's hand. "Barty sent

us word…about that one in particular. No noise attacks…from you tonight."

Scowling up at the man, Harry snarled as Pettigrew loomed over him and reached out with

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

the knife down as Harry's eyes widened. Take it! Take my blood! Go ahead and use it you

bloody arse! He thought defiantly as the knife pierced his upper arm and drew a bloody

gash down several centimeters before Pettigrew pulled back and teetered over to the

cauldron again. The knife flicked out and the potion turned a steaming, blinding white.

Harry's heart plummeted. It had been a long shot anyway. He'd done more research after

his own run-in with rituals and things like this were entirely intent based. Just thinking that

he wanted the traitor and the murderer to use his blood wouldn't be enough. He'd have

actually had to have wanted them to use him – not just tried to convince himself it was

okay…

A loud bang crashed out and the cauldron exploded sending pieces of metal bouncing

away in several directions. Spots danced in front of Harry's eyes and as his vision cleared,

he saw a tall, pale figure with an angular skull and leering visage peering down on him

with crimson eyes. "Robe me, Wormtail." Voldemort's voice was deeper now and it

practically resonated throughout the graveyard. Harry managed to keep his shudder from

manifesting. It helped that his hand was still burning and he could use the pain to distract

himself.

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Chapter 283

Pettigrew whimpered and picked himself up from the ground he had fallen to grabbing a

nearby black robe and draping it over Voldemort's outstretched hands. A large snake

nearly three meters long slithered through the grass and twined around Voldemort's feet.

Rearing back slightly, it extended a wand from its jaws which Voldemort happily accepted.

~Thank you, Nagini. I can always trust you to keep my treasures safe.~

~Of course you can, Speaker. Nagini will always follow and always obey and always

protect,~ the snake hissed.

Harry grunted. A snake familiar. How very typical. He briefly entertaining a fantasy of

Hedwig battling the giant snake and plucking out its eyes before he was dragged back to

the present as Voldemort stepped in front of him. The man held out his hand and caressed

Harry's forehead above his scar sending a shock of pain and more burning through his

head. Letting out a cry, Harry hissed and tried to draw his head away.

Voldemort laughed and pulled back. "Ah, excellent. I wasn't certain if that would truly

work, but it seems I have definitely broken that veneer of protection that surrounds you,

Harry. Such a shame for you it does not seem to go both ways, hmm?" Chuckling softly the

snake-faced resurrected Dark Lord grinned down at Harry. "We are quite alike you and I.

Far more so than either of us would prefer I believe. Both raised by Muggles, both hating

that world, both with few friends, both powerful, both geniuses, both orphaned – "

"I was orphaned because of you, you bastard!" Harry snarled his eyes narrowed to slits

and his lips curled.

Voldemort nodded and started back towards Pettigrew who had collapsed to the ground

clutching his stump. "Indeed. It need not have turned out that way though. Your father

stood his ground as a warrior and gave me pause for a few moments. Had he had more

room, he might have even managed to injure me before I killed him. Your mother

though…she was promised to one of my more promising servants. I would have let her live

had she stepped aside. I doubt I will ever understand why so many always refuse to step

aside…" he mused. Harry's insides twisted. He'd had a long time to think about the

memory the Dementors brought up and had long since come to worry that Voldemort had

actually come for him that night. To have it so bluntly stated though…

"My own mother was just as foolishly stubborn and idiotic," Voldemort said with an

offhand wave. "She was a poor witch who lived near here with her pathetic little family.

Her eye turned to the spoiled Muggle upon whom you are standing. When he rejected her,

she potioned him into loving her and managed to convince herself that it was real,"

Voldemort scoffed. He appeared to be in the middle ground between disdain and

amusement. Harry was just stunned into complete silence that Voldemort was

monologuing about his family history to his mortal enemy with a whimpering servant in

the background.

"Shortly before I was born my mother stopped the potion regimen and my father

abandoned her. She died in childbirth. Dead of 'broken heart'," Voldemort paused and

laughed. He shook his head with and shrugged before smiling at Harry. "A broken heart. As

if such things exist. At least your mother died of a killing curse. I killed my father myself

before I graduated Hogwarts. Ironic isn't it? Two sides of a coin. Your parents died to save

you. I killed both of my own parents. The end result is same; we both grew up never

knowing family or love…" Voldemort turned to smile at Harry and he could feel his skin

crawl. "Ah look at how sentimental and nostalgic I have been getting. Let's just call it a side

effect of being able to talk without necessary pauses for the first time in years shall we?

Now, I think I shall introduce you to my true family. Your arm, Wormtail."

Harry's blood ran cold as Voldemort turned to the rat. Pettigrew sobbed gratefully and

held out his stump which only caused the Dark Lord to laugh. "No, Wormtail, the other

arm." Still laughing Voldemort reached out and pressed his wand to the Dark Mark on

Pettigrew's left shoulder. Screams rang out yet again. By this point Harry had been

convinced they were either very secluded or under very strong wards. Surely the amount

and volume of the screams so far this night would've drawn someone by now otherwise?

"I wonder who will have the courage to show?"

The three present didn't have to wait long. After less than a minute, pops started sounding

from the surrounding air near Voldemort and Pettigrew. Figures resolved in the darkness in

various states of dress. Harry only recognized Lucius Malfoy, though he certainly wasn't

surprised to see the man there groveling at Voldemort's feet.

"Ah, my friends!" Voldemort said extending his arms wide. The false cheer in his voice did

absolutely nothing to hide the rage and disgust in his tone. "You come before me again!

Malfoy, Avery, Nott, Crabbe, Yaxley, Mcnair" he said as he turned from face to face still

smiling. "Karkaroff is too much of a coward to show I see. We will make him remember

why you don't resign your post at my side…Snape…hmm, should he prove useful still I

might allow him to continue breathing. We shall see."

Harry's eyes narrowed as Voldemort started to monologue again to the assembled Death

Eaters. Snape being a Death Eater really shouldn't surprise him at all considering the man's

hatred of him. It wasn't something to deal with right now though. Harry cast about for

something – anything – he could do to get out of this. Apparition was looking better. He

still had no idea exactly what to do but obviously they could get in that way. Shiva had said

something about Destination, Deliberation and…and…what even was 'deliberation'

anyway? Well, Destination and Desperation would probably work. Unless this was just a

ward scheme that had Dark Mark bearers keyed into it. Which was likely. So not only

would he end up splinched, he'd be right where he started except minus a few bits.

Brilliant.

Sucking in a breath Harry resisted the urge to slam his head into the tombstone as a

thought smashed into his mind. "Dobby!" he whispered as Voldemort sent off a few

crucios at one of his followers who had arrived in a night robe. The air near Harry stayed

defiantly empty and quiet. "Dobby!" he said louder. Still nothing happened. Cursing

inwardly he was forced to revise his opinion of Voldemort upwards. Purebloods in general

ignored House Elves. Granted, Voldemort had just admitted that he wasn't as pure as his

followers liked to believe, but Harry had been hoping the man still subscribed to many of

the established prejudices…obviously he was a bit smarter than that unfortunately.

Another potential avenue of escape closed off.

"You see how generous I am to those who serve me faithfully?" Voldemort's voice cut back

into Harry's thoughts. He turned his head and caught sight of Pettigrew with a shiny new

metallic hand and Voldemort smiling broadly. "Wormtail may be quite pathetic and a true

coward above all else…but this coward searched me out. And between him and Barty…we

have claimed Harry Potter."

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Chapter 284

As Voldemort smiled over to him gesturing, Harry did his best to roll his eyes and ignore

the hammering of his heart or the pain in his hand, arm and head. "Careful, Tommy, keep

talking about claiming me and all and people are going to think you have a crush on me

and are keeping me as a love slave."

Voldemort's slitted nostrils flared and his eyes seemed to almost flash. For a moment

Harry was worried he might have pushed it a bit far, but then the Dark Lord started to

laugh. "Oh, it takes true courage or amazing stupidity to speak such words to one's

executioner. Shall we see which it is you possess, Harry?" He raised his wand and before

Harry could do more than grimace, flicked the glasses to the ground and exclaimed,

"Legilimens!"

Harry snorted in amusement as he landed lightly on his feet on the walls of his castle in his

mindscape. Thankfully, his injuries didn't carry over into here so all he felt was a dull

throbbing instead of true pain. Harry looked out over the boiling moat below him and

laughed. Voldemort obviously hadn't expected there to be a fight in this setting.

Enough arrows to blot out the artificial sun had been launched as soon as Voldemort

popped into his mind. A shield had blocked some but not all and the Dark Lord was

sporting several wooden shafts sticking out of his arms and legs when Harry's catapults

and trebuchets launched their volleys. These included everything from large rocks, to

flaming balls of greek fire, to giant cows and pissed off alligators and monkeys. The second

volley had barely left their launchers before the air was split by a deafening crack as

hundreds of cannons shot their ammunition at the intruder.

Voldemort had managed to get a more substantial shield up by now and was looking at

Harry with a mixture of hatred and respect. Harry raised a hand in a mock salute and as he

dropped it, nearly a thousand soldiers came charging out of the castle over the moat's

drawbridges. Many stopped and took aim with rifles, pistols and ray guns while just as

many kept charging towards Voldemort with swords swinging and spears held forward.

A scream of frustration ripped from Voldemort and Harry's mind lurched in dull pain as

many of his defenses were sundered and ripped. The Dark Lord launched spells and magic

and was shortly able to clear a path through the battlefield. He managed to get over the

moat by commandeering a horse and leaping the gap dropping into Harry's next layer.

Harry scowled, but followed after him. This first level was never really intended to do more

than delay, annoy and tire people out anyway.

Popping into incorporeal existence next to Voldemort, he started to laugh at the man. The

Dark Lord was floating freely in the middle of space looking left and right and obviously

trying to figure out just how he was supposed to move from his current position across the

vast emptiness spanning between him and the small form of a planet.

"That's Jupiter if you're curious," Harry mentioned offhandedly. "You just left Mars.

Seemed appropriate for an initial mind battle, you know?"

Voldemort scowled. "I did not expect a child to have such well developed shielding. You

prove yet again that I chose correctly when seeking to destroy you, boy." He started to fly

forward angling towards Jupiter.

"I had a great teacher."

"Babbling I assume. Or Black. I doubt either will submit to me once I kill you. Shame. It is

so hard to find decent minions," Voldemort mused.

Harry growled. "You won't touch them, Riddle. I wonder if I can kill your mind while you're

mucking about in here."

"Such anger," Voldemort laughed. "You should follow me. I know you won't. But you

should. We'd be unstoppable and we could – " He froze and a large grin split his face. "Well,

well. This is unexpected. How…ironic." An instant later Voldemort had vanished.

Harry frowned. That wasn't supposed to be possible. Especially not in the space layer of his

defenses. Voldemort should – Harry let out a scream of rage and frustration as his

mindscape finally caught up to where Voldemort had penetrated to.

Harry blinked and he was next to Voldemort again as the man waltzed through the replica

of Number 4 Privet Drive. Somehow Voldemort had managed to bypass 90% of Harry's

defenses without a fight and had appeared in his deepest layer. Harry started to raise his

hand to bring his last line up when he froze. Behind where Voldemort had walked through,

there was a door open with a roiling black mass behind it. Harry hadn't put that there. It

was next to the door to his old cupboard and as he watched the door slammed shut and

melted into the wall.

"This is a bit problematic to be truthful," Voldemort said waving at the door. "I'd hate to

have to kill you now after seeing this. Are you truly sure I can't convince you to join me?

You are clearly powerful and accomplished despite your age. I'd be perfectly willing to let

you keep your women and pets. If I was willing to let your mother go to a young man

who's only claim to fame was bad hair, a surly attitude and brilliance with potions…there's

no reason why I wouldn't let you have a mudblood, a half-breed and a whore. I'll even

guarantee the safety of Babbling and Black if you can convince them not to attack me or

my followers."

For a horrifying moment Harry actually stopped to consider the offer. The man had

destroyed his family. He had killed his parents and countless others. But…he was going to

force a change on the stagnant wizarding world. And if Harry could guarantee the safety of

those he cared about most…

Harry snarled and wrenched his eyes away from the wall where the door concealing the

black ball of corruption had vanished. Turning back to Voldemort he uttered a simple, "Go

to hell." Jerking his head Harry summoned the final line of defense. A facehugger dropped

from the ceiling onto Voldemort's back while an Alien Queen tore through the front door

of the house. Far above the little dwelling, a Super Star Destroyer fired its engines

navigating onto a ramming course.

And in orbit around the little asteroid sheltering the replica Number 4, the Death Star

centered directly on the house, fired.

Harry's head snapped back and cracked against the tombstone with a dull thud while

Voldemort stumbled back. Harry grit his teeth as his head felt like someone had taken a

jackhammer to it. Voldemort for his part held a hand to his own head and just started

cackling.

"Well done, child, well done! Such potential!" Voldemort shook his head and stepped back

with a slightly manic grin. "Such a shame that I have to cut you down. You should have

taken my offer, Harry. But let's make this fair at least, shall we?" A quick gesture with his

wand and the ropes binding Harry to the tombstone vanished, letting Harry drop to his

knees over the grave of Tom Riddle. He hurriedly scrambled to put his glasses back on.

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Chapter 285

"Fair?" Harry asked scowling up at Voldemort. "I'm exhausted, bleeding out, have no wand

and you have my main tools. If this is what you consider fair, no wonder people despise

you!"

Voldemort nodded clasping his hands. "Ah, very good points. I see your exhaustion and

bleeding and raise you a recent resurrection." Grinning, Voldemort chuckled, his Death

Eaters following along and laughing with their master. "I will grant you however, Harry,

your wand and runes should be returned."

Another wand flick and three shapes flew through the lighted graveyard towards Harry.

With his Seeker reflexes Harry surged forward and grabbed all three items. He stared with

wonder at his main rune harness and his prototype versions. He'd actually somewhat

expected Voldemort to give him back his wand. But to return the rune stones too…Harry

scowled. He was likely not going to win this fight, but he'd make damn sure Voldemort

regretting underestimating him.

And…he had a chance. He had a legitimate chance to escape. To get back to Hermione,

Nym, Fleur, Shiva and Daphne. He had a chance to survive. He was sure as hell going to

take that chance!

"You've been taught official dueling, Harry? Flitwick has been busy from what Barty tells

me." Voldemort moved back slightly and smiled. "No one will interfere with this. First, we

bow."

Harry scowled, slipped his two harnesses on and stood. He palmed a Chain Reactor Beam

and channeled a small burst through his tattoos checking over any other potential

problems before ramping up to full fighting capacity. Breathing a short sigh of relief, Harry

found that the only tattoo they had sabotaged was the Boomstone and he at least had an

extra in the original etched form.

Turning to Voldemort, he didn't even have time to react when the Dark Lord sent an

Imperius curse at him. The blank feeling washed over him momentarily with a single

command to BOW. Throwing it off without much effort Harry cocked his head at

Voldemort. "Queen Fleur was a hell of a lot worse than that, Tom."

Voldemort scowled and jerked his wand sending out a stream of red and purple spells

towards Harry. Harry lifted the Chain Reactor Beam in response and threw as much magic

into it as he could. The energy beam that flew from the stone was twice the size of the one

from his battle against the evil overlord doppelganger and two of the Death Eaters arrayed

behind Voldemort had to leap out of the way to avoid being consumed in the burst of

power. Screaming in rage, Harry kept up the assault until the rune stone crumbled to dust

and the beam died. There was a large gash in the ground of the hill in the path of the beam

and a section of the manor in the distance appeared to be in flames.

Voldemort though was simply standing there with a glimmering shield in front of him. The

shield was glowing a deep red and pulsing slightly as energy seemed to bleed off it and the

small cracks in the center healed themselves. Voldemort's eyes flashed and his features set

into a frown. "Impressive. Not impressive enough however."

Harry jumped to the side as Voldemort dropped the shield and started tossing spell after

spell at him. The ground behind, beside and in front of Harry exploded as he leaped and

dodged barely staying ahead of the surge of spells. This far surpassed anything that

Flitwick or McGonagall had been teaching him about spell chains and silent casting.

Voldemort had apparently gained his reputation through actual skill instead of subterfuge.

Diving behind a tombstone, Harry pulled out the Yamato Cannon from his prototype

harness and stood powering it up.

The ball of roiling destruction surged out from the rune stone working just as well as he'd

hoped. It let loose a 3 meter wide torrent of energy that left a trail of devastation and

ozone as it flew towards Voldemort and his Death Eaters. 'Well, that gets upgraded to the

main harness now,' Harry thought as he dropped the crumbling dust of the stone and

pulled out a Freezer. The ball of energy exploded into the midst of the Death Eaters and

Harry saw at least one body go flying through the graveyard.

A pop behind him had Harry turning and desperately starting his own weak spell chain

with a torrent of freezing water from the Freezer joining it. Voldemort had managed to

apparate behind him, completely unharmed. The man swatted away all of Harry's spells

and shattered the ice that formed over his legs from the Freezer while Harry dived to the

side again. He grabbed the Boomstone rune and activated it as he hurriedly tried to etch a

Reflector into a blank stone. If he could finish that he might have –

The tombstone he was hiding behind vanished into a pile of debris and Voldemort smiled

down on him. Harry dropped back and brought his arms together letting, the Lava Bomb

complete itself. He noted with satisfaction that Voldemort hadn't expected that as the man

fell back with shock in his eyes as lava poured out at him. As Voldemort blinked out again,

Harry dropped his arms and grabbed for a Ninja. If he could hide then maybe he could –

"Crucio!" Harry fell to the ground screaming in pain as every nerve in his body started

firing at once.

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Chapter 286

The spell wasn't kept on him for long thankfully and after a few seconds Harry felt it drop

off and he could breathe again. His body twitched and his hand again felt like it had been

dipped in fire but he could think. Looking up, he saw Voldemort with a badly burned left

hand stepping forward. "You really should have joined me boy," Voldemort said tonelessly.

He lifted his wand and Harry's eyes widened. No! It was not going to end like this!

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort yelled.

"Sanguinem Ulcus!" Harry shouted at the same time.

The two spells met in the center and instead of ricocheting, each turned golden and

merged into a line between the two combatants. The single thick line sprouted a large

golden cage of lines a few meters wide around them and both were lifted a half meter into

the air clutching their wands with looks of shock and confusion mirrored on both faces. A

song burst into existence and Harry dimly realized it was a phoenix sound and appeared to

be vibrating out from his wand and the lines of light.

"No one interfere!" Voldemort screamed as the Death Eaters started to circle the sphere of

light. Large beads of energy appeared in the center of the main beam linking Harry's wand

to Voldemort's and began to edge towards him. His wand began to shake and Harry

snarled. He focused everything he had on those beads and the tide shifted.

The light beads flowed towards Voldemort. Sweat ran down Harry's brow as he forced the

energy back into his enemy's wand. Finally, with a roar of triumph, the light bead touch

Voldemort's side and the wand shook violently. Several phantom spells and rays of light

shot from Voldemort's wand and faded into the air. Harry could only watch in awe as the

man's wand seemed to regurgitate the last battle in reverse. Suddenly, a torso appeared

from the end of the wand dropping to ground. The spectral form of an old man scowled up

at Voldemort spitting at him before walking towards Harry.

"Doing well, sonny boy. Keep it up and kill the monster for me," the pseudo-ghost said.

Voldemort's eyes had gone wide and Harry just gaped as another ghost fell from the wand.

This one was a frumpy looking woman with a large beehive hair bun who just looked

around confused before sitting down where she fell. A third ghost fell from the wand and

Harry's breath caught in his throat.

"Dad?" Harry whispered as the final specter came close and smiled at Harry.

His father's apparition nodded. "Keep it up, son. When the connection breaks make your

escape. Me the geezer will be able to linger long enough to distract the bastard."

"Right you are," the old man spoke up.

"Wait!" Harry cried out. Something wasn't right. It wasn't right at all. His father had died

before his mother. "Where's – "

"No time, Harry. Your wand can't take much more of this. Get ready. One, two, THREE!"

Harry reacted on instinct and jerked his wand up breaking the beam connecting him to

Voldemort. The phoenix song died and the cage of golden light disappeared. The two male

ghosts rushed to mob Voldemort who screamed in rage. Before Voldemort could cast

another spell Harry shot a huge burst from his Knockback tattoo at the man and grabbed

for his prototype harness.

He lifted the tracekey from its slot and uttered a prayer to whoever was watching that this

would work. His last view of the graveyard as he activated the rune cluster was Voldemort

screaming out a final Killing Curse. Then a hook grabbed his navel and Harry was jerked

away into the night.

XXX

"Where is that Pensieve?" Shiva muttered pacing back and forth beside the winner's

platform. Fleur was still sobbing into Hermione's shoulder on the corner, all of her avian

features in stark relief. Her hand was clutching the vial containing her brief, dim memory of

where she'd been brought to before Harry had knocked her back into the cup. Amelia and

Proudfoot had gone to the Ministry to retrieve a Pensieve so that they could try and see if

anything from the memory could be used to apparate to Harry and save him.

If there was even still a living Harry to save. Shiva kept pacing steadfastly refusing to

continue that line of thought.

Tonks was to the side with Shacklebolt and Scrimgeour heatedly interrogating Barty Crouch

Jr. – the polyjuice had worn off shortly after Fleur had reappeared and the real Moody had

been bundled off to St. Mungo's. The Aurors had agreed to question Crouch here in the

hopes that he'd be able to shed some light on where Harry had been taken and time was

of the essence. The man's answers could just barely be heard over the continual noise of

the murmuring crowd a short ways away.

"I don't know why my name shows differently on that map. It was nothing I did," Crouch's

voice was fully monotone, all of his resistance burned away from the veritaserum flowing

through his system.

"It's been perfected for months now and takes its input directly from the castle wards! You

had to do something at the Yule Ball to affect it!" Tonks snarled. Shiva noticed the Flamels

in the crowd behind the small group frown and melt back into the mass. Probably avoiding

Dumbledore seeing them.

"All I did at the Yule Ball was swap the Polyjuice flask for a whiskey flask and move Moody

to the Shrieking Shack after you questioned me."

Scrimgeour eyed Tonks appreciatively before turning back to Crouch. "That was the only

illegal thing you did during the Yule Ball?"

A bit of emotion crept into Crouch's voice. "Used Moody's eye to look through the dresses

quite a bit. Lots of fancy lingerie that night. Much better than during the rest of the year

with those school robes. Girls went all out at Yule. I didn't even look through the lingerie of

a few they were so beautiful."

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Chapter 287

Tonks looked like she was ready to cut the imposter's bollocks off and Shiva would've

helped if she wasn't so worried about Harry. As it was, Scrimgeour's hands clenched into

fists and he said in a clipped tone, "Did you contact your master that night?"

"No. I couldn't kill Potter's sex toy so without looking even more suspicious and I didn't

want the Master to think me weak or foolish."

"Who is the Master?"

"The Dark Lord. The rightful ruler of us all. The savior of witches and wizards. The

conqueror of death," Crouch's tone was practically dripping worship even through the

veritaserum.

Tonks' hair flashed to a deep red and stayed that way as she growled. "And where is his

current base?"

"He has no current base."

Scrimgeour slammed a palm against his face. "We are running out of ways to rephrase this

stupid question! How can you keep avoiding answering it?!"

"I spent months trying to get Moody to answer my questions about his past and his

precautions before running out of veritaserum. I learned from him how to give a truthful

response while answering your direct question instead of what you want to know."

Shiva tuned them out again. That was going nowhere fast. She wasn't certain what was

worse about this whole screwed up thing: that the man had managed to impersonate

Alastor Moody for nearly 10 months supposedly without anyone other than Tonks the

wiser, or that the Death Eater had actually been a better teacher than anyone in the last

decade barring Remus Lupin.

If Harry had left a tracekey prototype behind she would've used it already to track him

down herself and damn the consequences. As it was she knew he'd made a few extra

modifications to the base diagram and she couldn't risk making a new one. The working

prototype was dangerous enough goddess only knew what the unmodified version would

do to her. A dead rescuer wouldn't be of much help.

She scowled as she took stock of the grounds again. Karkaroff seemed to have disappeared

at some point. It made him suspicious but he'd been enough of a coward previously that

Shiva was left with worrying conclusions about why he had left, what he was running from

and just who likely had abducted Harry. None of that had been allayed from Crouch saying

his master was 'the Dark Lord'. Krum was sitting a ways away with Millicent Bullstrode and

just holding her hand. Fred was wrapped up with the Weasleys and several members of

the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Daphne, Tracey, Luna and Neville along with the rest of

Harry's close friends were holding a vigil in the first row of the stands nearest to the

winner's platform. Much of the main audience had stayed seated continuing their

whispered conversations and waiting to hear what happened to their star Champion.

And Dumbledore was standing off to the side. The old man had a decent sad look on his

face, Shiva'd grant him that. She even fully believed that he had no idea that the trophy's

portkey had been modified with a waystation. But his eyes were practically dancing with

triumph and glee.

If Harry didn't come back soon…she'd have to make sure that someone was with her for

the next several days so that she didn't find Dumbledore in the dead of night

to…interrogate him. Someone besides Hermione, Tonks, Fleur and Daphne. They'd all likely

have to stick with their own minders as well. Harry disappearing would be bad enough, all

of them getting tossed in Azkaban for murder would be worse.

"I fail to see why I you are preventing me from administering judgment immediately!" an

annoyed shout cut through to Shiva's consciousness. She stopped pacing and turned to see

Fudge striding forward on Amelia's heels with his bowler hat in his hands and a scowl on

his face.

Sirius growled as he stared back at the Minister. "You can't have your pet demon Kiss the

prisoner, Fudge, because he hasn't finished his official interrogation yet. I've been an Auror

a month and even I know that!"

"He is an escapee murderer from Azkaban! That is a Kiss On Sight offense!"

Sirius' hands twitched towards his wand. "No? Really? I didn't know that. So we shouldn't

bother to ensure that he was working alone then? Or that he's actually the one who did

this?"

Shiva tried to find the humor there but couldn't muster up enough effort. Instead she went

to Amelia's side as the woman brought up the court Pensieve and they both turned to

Fleur. "Fleur, we're ready."

Amelia sighed as Hermione helped Fleur to her feet. "Remember, don't expect much from

this. You weren't able to get a good enough view of anything for this memory to be clear

enough to do much with."

"It will be enough. It must be," Fleur said wiping her eyes and moving forward. They had

just poured the memory into the bowl when the air was split by a thunderous crack and a

flare of lightning along with a caterwauling from the Hogwarts wards.

Hands clamped over her ears and blinking away the spots in her vision, Shiva gaped at the

platform ahead of her. Harry Potter was lying on the ground covered in blood and dirt and

clutching a wand in one hand and a glowing rune stone in the other. She gasped and

vaulted onto the stand moving towards him. Harry sat up and held up his wand shouting,

"Accio blood replenishing potions!" The glow from the rune stone in his hand started to

creep up his arm as four potion vials flew through the air. She reached Harry as he

snatched the vials out of the air. Shiva was only a second faster than Hermione, Fleur and

Tonks.

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Chapter 288

All four opened their mouths to say something, but Harry shoved the vials into Shiva's

hand before any words could get out. "When the bleeding starts to slow down to a trickle

make me drink this! It'll mean I'm out of blood. Hopefully that's enough vials!"

"What?" Shiva asked rearing back in shock. The glow from the rune stone reached his

shoulder and started moving towards his chest. She stared at it praying it wasn't what she

believed.

Harry's next words took the wind out of that prayer fast. "Tracekey grounding backlash!"

Harry said doubling over in pain and breathing fast. "Make me drink the potions until the

magic is fully dissipated. Shite! I need a Breathkeeper also!" He dropped his wand and

grabbed a stone from his harness just as the glow reached his chest and seemed to absorb

into him.

"Harry, what – " Hermione started but then stopped and flinched back, staring at her

boyfriend in horror.

Harry had screwed his eyes shut as tears of blood leaked out from their corners. His ears

trailed blood down the sides of his face and his nose started spurting blood as well. The cut

in his left arm seeped out blood in a minor torrent. Worst of all perhaps was that every

shuddering breath he took caused a shower of blood to rain out of the sky above the

group.

"Harry?!" Tonks uttered her mouth hanging open and her hair a pure white.

"Shite! Goddess dammit, kid, I told you not to touch that thing until we fixed the

grounding problem! POMFREY! More blood replenishers! NOW!"

Fleur turned to Shiva with a scowl. "Explain," she demanded in a dangerous voice.

Focusing her frustration on Shiva probably wasn't the best thing to do at the moment but

the professor certainly couldn't blame the girl. Her boyfriend was hemorrhaging in front

her and she was still beating herself up over having unintentionally left him alone in that

graveyard.

"The Tracekey punches through wards at both the start and the destination. It's the only

way to safely track criminals to an unknown location with potentially hostile defenses,"

Shiva said, carefully watching the blood flow trailing out of Harry. Pomfrey finally managed

to get onto the platform but she pulled up short as she saw the condition the young man

was in. The blood slowed down and Shiva lunged forward and poured a vial down his

throat.

Coughing Harry swallowed and a few moments later, the volume of outflow picked up

again. Shiva picked up her explanation as Pomfrey shifted to Harry's arm and tried to close

the gash. "The tunneler creates an amount of magical feedback directly proportional to the

strength of the wards it's bypassing. Stronger wards, stronger backlash. Originally the

energy grounded out by exploding. We fixed it so that it grounds through the activator

instead."

Harry's bleeding slowed again and Shiva jammed another vial of potion down his throat

praying that the energy was almost fully dissipated. They were running out of vials.

"How is this safer?!" Hermione screamed.

"It's not!" Shiva growled. "The grounding energy currently centers into the heart and

bleeds off through the bloodstream, following the flow to dissipate harmlessly into the air

at mucus boundaries. The issue is that the rate of dissipation is too fast and it instead

bursts the blood vessels while grounding out leading to extreme bleeding until the excess

energy is fully gone. Thankfully all internal bleeding should be restricted to the lungs." She

started breathing quicker as Harry's bleeding slowed down again and she forced the third

vial down his throat.

Tonks looked between Shiva's pasty complexion and Harry's shuddering form beneath her.

"What happens if you run out of potion before he's done grounding out?" she asked

quietly.

All sound nearby seemed to stop as Shiva steadfastly refused to look up from Harry. "He

bleeds out and dies." She blinked away tears refusing to allow herself to cry yet. Instead

she muttered low, "Dammit, Harry, what the hell were you mixed up in that you'd risk

using this thing into one of the most heavily warded sections the country?"

His bleeding started to slow once more and she started to move forward with her final vial

before feeling a hand on her arm. Snarling and shaking it off Shiva found her arm again

restrained. "No, Bathsheda. Not this time. Much less time has passed. It's done." The

nurse waved her wand and Harry's body glowed a dim crimson before Pomfrey nodded

and smiled. "He's cumulatively lost enough blood to warrant some of that potion, but not

the full thing. Give it to me and let me stabilize him."

Shiva breathed a sigh of relief and handed the vial over to the healer then stepped back.

The girls also quickly surrounded her. "You knew he was working on that," Hermione

accused.

Shiva scowled. "Of course I did! He's been consulting me on it since the bloody Cup over

the summer! He had a working copy in the prototype belt along with other half finished

things. It was for emergency usage only and was never expected to actually be needed

before we fixed the problems. Harry knew the risks inherent in it and he wouldn't have

used it unless there was no other choice!"

"There wasn't," Harry croaked from behind them sitting up and grimacing. "Madame

Pomfrey, can you look at my right hand? They cut my tattoo and I didn't realize it until

after I tried to channel magic through it. It still hurts a lot and it's different from when I

tried to use the Knockback while transformed."

The nurse nodded and shifted her target as the latest spell finished. Harry winced and

looked up at the people surrounding him. The crowd had grown in the few minutes he had

been knocked out by the Tracekey's backlash. A quick glance around showed his girlfriends

glaring at Shiva who seemed just as angry, though her ire appeared to be focused on

herself judging by the set of her shoulders. Daphne was in the stands with her knees

drawn up and her head between her legs. Tracey and Luna each had their arms wrapped

around a shoulder while the Slytherin girl shook between them. Neville was between

Susan and Hannah who were both crushed against his chest. Harry caught a small

reassuring smile flash from his best male friend when he caught sight of Harry sitting up.

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Chapter 289

Sirius, Remus and Amelia were arguing with Fudge and Scrimgeour over the limp body of

someone he didn't recognize tied to a chair. Dumbledore was close enough to hear both

conversations, but not close enough to contribute to either. Something for which Harry

was very grateful. One Dark Lord was bad enough for one day.

He scowled as he saw Snape walk up to Dumbledore, argue about something with his hand

gesturing toward his left shoulder and then storm off towards the castle gates. Brilliant,

Voldemort was getting another Death Eater follower. Granted it was possible the horrible

man was being ordered to go, but Harry still wanted to fantasize that Voldemort would just

off the bastard.

"Harry, what happened after you touched the trophy?" Shiva asked gently. The concern

suffusing her voice was comforting, but even that wasn't enough to prevent the shudder

that ran through his body.

Harry shook his head. "Kidnapped obviously. Voldemort," he scowled as he felt Pomfrey

flinch at the name. "Voldemort had gotten a homunculus body. Barely bigger than a

misshapen baby. Pettigrew was helping him."

"Impossible!" Fudge yelled staring at Harry goggle eyed. A vein was popping out on his

forehead which made Harry think back to the man's resemblance to Uncle Vernon. The

twisting lime green bowler hat was the only thing that prevented the image from being

perfect. Well and the fact that Vernon was a walrus in human disguise.

Amelia snorted. "Minister Fudge, perhaps you'd like to hear the explanation before you

bother hiding your head in the sand?"

Harry gave her a small salute with his left hand while Pomfrey kept casting spells on his

right. "Anyway, Voldemort just wanted me. He had Pettigrew try to kill Fleur, but I

managed to knock her out of the way before the Killing Curse hit her. She must have

landed on the portkey because the next thing I knew she was gone."

"Oui. I did. And it wouldn't take me back no matter what I did…" Fleur mumbled. Her voice

hitched partway through and Hermione and Tonks both wrapped an arm around the

French girl.

"I was knocked out almost immediately. Woke up tied to a tombstone. Pettigrew

performed some sort of ritual that used the bone of his father, Pettigrew's own hand and

my blood to give Voldemort a full size body. He's an ugly bastard. Looks more like the

lovechild of a snake and human than a straight up person," Harry shuddered thinking back

to those red eyes and that slitted 'nose'.

Shiva nodded. "What happened after he got a regular form back, kid?"

Harry flinched. "We taunted each other a bit and he called his Death Eaters. Malfoy, Nott,

Avery, Crabbe, Yaxley and Mcnair all showed up pretty quick. He said Karkaroff ran and

that Sn – "

"Karkaroff disappeared shortly after you were kidnapped, Harry," Dumbledore cut in

moving forward with a grandfatherly smile.

Harry wasn't fooled. "Protect him all you want, Headmaster, but Voldemort specifically

called Sn – "

Dumbledore nodded. "Be that as it may I would prefer to discuss that aspect in private.

Lives may well depend on it."

Everyone looked between Harry and Dumbledore sensing the undercurrent of the battle

between the two. Harry scowled but backed down after a few moments. "Full explanation

or I tell the press exactly what he said, old man." As much as he hated to admit it, there

was a dim chance that Snape was just an bigoted arsehole acting as a spy. That he had

waited long enough to speak with Dumbledore before running off to the master was

enough to stay Harry's hand for a few minutes at least.

Fudge stepped up still twirling his bowler hat. "You are disparaging several extremely

prominent, extremely well respected individuals in our society, boy! You would do well to

remember that before pointing fingers at people!"

"So I should ignore the men who laughed while Voldemort tortured me?" Harry asked

cocking an eyebrow at the Minister. "How did you get elected? All you do is protect the

people bribing you. Do they own half the country and pay off everyone? Money runs out

you know." Fudge just spluttered and his face turned red. Harry twisted back to his friends.

"So after we taunted each other, Voldemort tried to mind rape me." A few gasps were

heard and he saw Pomfrey scowl. "I fought him off. Barely. He got a lot deeper than he

should have been able to – which we need to talk about later, Shiva. After that he wanted

to duel me in front of his minions."

Another shudder ran through Harry's body but his face set in a firm expression. "I actually

managed to burn him a bit before our wands linked. Something really weird happened

then. Sort of like a jumbo version of the prior incantanto thing. A cage of light surrounded

us and our wands linked together with beads of light appearing in the center and phoenix

song playing us."

"That's Priori Incantatem," Daphne murmured threading into the group with her head

down and her eyes red. "It's really rare. It's supposed to only happen with brother wands –

when one overpowers it's twin."

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Chapter 290

Harry nodded. "Makes sense then. Anyway, I beat him in the wills contest. Thank god it

wasn't power...he tossed out spells faster than I thought possible and he hits like a lorry,"

Harry scowled shaking his head. "So, then some specters of the people he'd last killed

came out of his wand. Not quite ghosts…more like…echoes? An old man who I think was

Muggle was first then some woman with a beehive hair style and…my dad. They distracted

Voldemort as I broke the connection and activated the tracekey." Harry paused and looked

at the ground guiltily. "I didn't really have any other choice. The Knight Bus only works on

roads, I can't apparate yet – and I'm willing to bet there was a ward against it even if I

could – there weren't any brooms, I was surrounded and the area was lit up enough that I

couldn't use Midnight to escape into shadows."

Harry frowned and stopped, staring at his hand. "I…don't think I would've been able to

concentrate enough to jump through a shadow anyway actually. At least not more than

once…"

Shiva sighed and shook her head before reaching out and squeezing his shoulder. "I think

that counts as an emergency usage, Harry. We need to make fixing it though a priority now.

I don't plan on watching you bleed to death in front of me again, kid."

Harry nodded. "There's two other big things that need to be a priority also…I'll tell you

later," he said quietly so that only Shiva the girls closest to him could hear.

"Well if the explanations are done I need to move this to the infirmary. Mr. Potter needs

rest and several addition potions. Especially for this hand," Pomfrey frowned. "There's

quite a bit of internal damage. I'm amazed you managed to hold your wand so long."

Harry ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. "Err, I might have cast a quick sticking

charm to my hand…" That elicited mild chuckles from the surrounding personnel.

"This is all preposterous! It's raving ramblings of an attention-seeking, delusional,

fame-hungry liar!" Fudge snarled. "Even if you actually believe that nonsense you just

spouted you said yourself that the criminal Peter Pettigrew was one of the first faces you

saw. He probably confounded you and you're too addled to have realized it!"

Harry had to fight down the urge to laugh at Fudge. From the looks on the faces of the

women surrounding him, he was probably the only one who wasn't about to curse the

portly man. "You know what, Minister? I'm not even going to try and reply to your insanity.

Go ahead and say whatever you want. When Voldemort waltzes through your front door

and props his feet up on your desk don't come crying to me."

Dumbledore followed the group of schoolchildren and adults into the infirmary outwardly

calm and collected but raging inside. Tom had returned. Harry was still alive and now he

was too late. He would have to let the boy play this out and be ready to step in as

Voldemort was cut down.

Or…or perhaps he could still salvage this nightmare. He could reveal small pieces. Just

enough to sway these people. Just enough that they would understand why he had done

what he had done. Not enough to incriminate but enough to imply and direct. Just enough

to push them down the path that would lead Harry to die prior to his complete fall.

Yes…yes that could work.

Dumbledore was jostled to the side and looked up in surprise. When had this many people

entered the hospital wing? The boy's partners and guardians were to be expected.

Nymphadora, Granger and Delacour hovered by his bedside along with Amelia, Bathsheda,

Sirius and Remus. Nearby others of his close companions gathered, Greengrass, Davis,

Lovegood, Neville, Abbott and Bones. What surprised him were the additional personnel

against the walls: the three remaining Delacours, the Weasley twins, Ginevra, Bullstrode,

Krum, the Gryffindor Chasers, Brown, Li, the Patil twins…even Filius and Minerva.

Harry Potter had an Inner Circle and a cabal of followers. This was even worse than

Dumbledore had anticipated.

"Harry Potter Sir must stop being so injured!" a diminutive little house elf berated the boy

from beside the bed. Harry just smiled down at the being and reassured him he'd do his

best. Dumbledore's frown deepened. If Harry started recruiting from other races as well…

"This should help finish repairs to your hand, Mr. Potter," Poppy said shuffling forward and

pouring a potion down his throat. "You should avoid casting spells with that hand for two

or three days just to be safe, but the major damage should be healed by morning. Expect

residual pain for about a week."

Bathsheda thanked the nurse then turned to Dumbledore and glared. Before she could say

anything to him though Maxime appeared in the doors to the infirmary and cleared her

throat. "Mademoiselle Babbling, your guests need to speak with you. Immediately."

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