Chapter 524: Substitution (Edited)

"Quick! Destroy the trophy!"

As Harry stared at the broken staff, it was Barty Crouch Jr. who was the first to react, and he immediately shouted out loud.

The other Death Eaters were alerted and immediately searched for any trace of the Triwizard Tournament trophy.

He tried to use the Summoning Spell again to summon the trophy, but found that he had only looked at it at first and could not remember the specific appearance of the trophy, nor did he know where it was now, nor could he summon it.

Just as he was about to ask Fish where the trophy was, he heard a Death Eater's voice not far away, "Bombarda!

Although almost half of the Death Eaters had been defeated by Fish, the Death Eaters outnumbered them, so someone soon found the Triwizard Tournament trophy on the grass and set it off with an explosive spell.

"It's over... we can't go back..."

Harry muttered in despair.

It was then that Fish realized what had happened, looked at Harry with wide eyes and asked, "Can you go back with that trophy? Why didn't you tell Fish earlier?"

(?°?°?)

Harry: ???

Weren't you always shouting about fighting Voldemort? Why are you blaming me now?

Harry felt aggrieved.

What he didn't know was that, although Fish wanted to fight Voldemort, he knew the priorities.

At first, when Voldemort was still weak, Fish didn't care much, but when he regained his strength, Fish began to think about how to escape.

It was true that Fish had defeated Voldemort, but Professor McGonagall, Hermione, Dumbledore and the others had told him about the so-called Dark Lord, so Fish knew that a rejuvenated Voldemort would be no worse than Dumbledore.

If that were the case, Fish would not have been afraid of meeting Voldemort, except that Harry had been captured at the time, and the relationship between Harry and Voldemort was known to Fish, so to ensure Harry's safety, Fish decided to take him with him and flee at the first opportunity.

So, although Fish was outwardly dismissive of Voldemort, he was actually already alert, only he had been trapped by that strange black mud that Voldemort had used earlier, so Fish had been trying to get him to break free of the black mud....

As for laughing at Voldemort's strength and appearance, and accidentally falling asleep.... well... that's catnature.

Fish originally thought that as soon as he was out of trouble, he'd run off with Harry right away, but, to his surprise, a group of Voldemort's minions showed up halfway through and, although he knew many of them, their reaction told Fish that they wouldn't be on his side if a fight broke out.

So Fish had to change his plan to see if he could defeat Voldemort in a one-on-one fight, or find a way to escape in the process.

It was precisely because he wanted Voldemort and the Death Eaters to relax their vigilance that Fish had to act as if he only wanted to fight Voldemort, not to prevent Harry from fighting Voldemort, but so that, in case Voldemort did, Fish would be confident that he could save Harry.

In fact, Fish had learned these tricks from Ryddle in the diary.

Only Fish hadn't thought of the Portkey at the time, and Harry had only learned about it after his father reminded him, as they were both too new to the magical world to think of it in the first place.

If he had known he could escape by grabbing the trophy, Fish would have dragged Harry away when he was freed from the black mud.

But there was no use being upset now, and Fish had no choice but to go through with his plan.

"If you can't beat Harry, get help! And you want Fish to do what you want? Shame on you!"

?(? `Д′?)?

Fish stepped in front of Harry, shaking his fist at the ugly Voldemort.

"Out of the way, all of you!"

Voldemort shooed the Death Eaters away and approached Fish and Harry with a scowl.

"Ha-!"

(? `Д′?)

Fish arched his back, lowered his cat ears and his tail bristled behind him.

However, Voldemort ignored Fish's intimidation and turned his attention to Harry, who stood behind him, or rather, to the wand Harry held in his hand.

"Priori Incantatem..." After calming down, Voldemort thought quickly about what had just happened, "That's something I didn't expect... your wand Is that what you rely on, besides your mother's guardian spell?"

It sounded like he was interrogating Harry, but in reality he was indirectly explaining to the Death Eaters why he hadn't been able to finish Harry off.

In the past, Voldemort wouldn't have given it a second thought, but now, after his defeat at Harry's hands, he had just come back to life today and had vowed to take down his supposed nemesis with ease....

But he failed.

Voldemort had to prove to the Death Eaters that he would not be defeated by his prophesied nemesis, Harry, or else they might betray him again in the future.

But Fish didn't care: "What is the Priori Incantatem spell? Fish doesn't know! All Fish knows is that you can't beat Harry, and then you shamelessly ask your men to help you!"

?(? `ω′?)?

"I didn't order them to help," Voldemort said casually. "And, you didn't stop them all?"

He glanced at the fallen Death Eaters, even more eager to take Fish under his wing.

"My duel with Harry was nowhere near won or lost."

Voldemort had to defeat Harry, both for his own sake and to prove to the Death Eaters around him that the prophecy was not true, and he had even used the trick on Harry to accomplish that.

"Or did that duel just scare you, Harry?"

"Who's afraid!"

With no hope of escape, Harry showed his Gryffindor courage by stepping out from behind Fish and shouting at Voldemort, "I'm not afraid of you! You're a loser!"

Voldemort narrowed his snake-red eyes and said in a soft, but cold voice, "Oh yeah? We'll see." He put his wand away, "So our duel continues."

"Desmaius!"

This time, Harry struck first.

"Protego." said Voldemort coolly.

Even without his wand, Voldemort could easily use most of his spells, albeit less powerful ones, but with his vast amount of magic, Harry still had no chance of winning.

And because of the unexpected Priori Incantatem spell, Voldemort no longer took his time taunting Harry, waving his pale, long fingers, and with a few simple spells, Harry could no longer dodge as before, and ripped the wand from his hand.

"Imperius."

Voldemort, who had secured victory, then resumed his taunting of Harry.

"Now, kneel before the great Dark Lord and offer him your allegiance." Voldemort said quietly, wagging his finger.

Harry crouched in a trance, about to fall to his knees, and the Death Eaters around him laughed on cue.

Only Barty Crouch Jr. froze for a moment, then moved silently to hide behind the other Death Eaters.

Voldemort was unaware that he had been tricked by his "most loyal servant," and continued to order Harry to kneel in front of him.

But just as Harry's knees were about to touch the ground, his body suddenly stopped and he remained half crouched, with a struggling expression on his face....

"I... I won't kneel!"

With a low growl, Harry broke free of the Imperius Curse and straightened up again, panting and glaring at Voldemort.

Voldemort, unable to mock him, narrowed his eyes and glared at him cruelly, as the Death Eaters around him stopped laughing and Barty Crouch Jr. hid in the crowd again.

"I see you haven't learned your lesson well enough, Harry." Voldemort said softly with a regretful expression, then raised his finger again "Crucio!"

A flash of red light flew out of Voldemort's fingertips, heading straight for Harry.

"Stop nya!"

=????(??ω??)?

Fish dodged in front of Harry and blocked the Cruciatus curse with a [Flaming Strike].

"Harry gave up on this round and Fish will fight you next!"

?(?ΦωΦ?)?