Chapter Twenty Five: Return of the Dark Lord
The months in between the second and third tasks were busy ones for the students. Classwork, homework and tests took up most of their time, although everyone was giving the three tournament champions various looks and Raiden heard several comments along the lines of "Which one's going to die next." This didn't bother him overly much, as he had never bothered to pay too much attention to public opinion before. Cedric and Viktor were more bothered by it but didn't let it show for the most part.
Lying on his bed one night after finishing his homework, Raiden was startled when he felt a familiar mental presence knocking on his shields. Checking that no one else was around, he drew his bed curtains shut, put up spells that would give him privacy and then settled back, closing his eyes to better help his concentration before he lowered his shields and let his master into his mind.
Hello Raiden, how are you? was Voldemort's first question.
Raiden sighed and replied, Busy. We've been flooded with homework since the second task; did you hear that the Beauxbatons contestant was killed?
Yes I did. Tragic accident that. Has Crouch talked to you at all?
No. I'd rather get through the tasks on my own, Master. Is there something you wanted him to pass on to me?
Voldemort gave the equivalent of a mental shrug. Not really. I put him there to keep an eye on you this year, but you seem to be doing well enough on your own. I wanted to talk to you about the third task though.
Raiden became more alert at that and waited patiently for Voldemort to explain what he was thinking. He had learnt years ago that his master would explain himself when he wanted to and questioning him would gain nothing except a painful twinge in his scar.
Voldemort sensed his apprentice's brief flash of impatience though and smirked to himself before beginning the explanation. The cup will be placed in the centre of the maze. Crouch will take out Diggory and Krum, leaving you free to take the cup. It will be a Portkey and will take you to where we're doing the ritual. Once there, you will be met by another of my Death Eaters, who will tell you what to do for the ritual. Basically all you have to do though is let them take a bit of blood at the point where it is required. After the ritual, I will be reborn, and we can figure out where to go from there. OK?
Yes Master. Um, this ritual will make you into essentially an older version of the memory in your diary right?
Close enough yes. It will also give me some of your characteristics, but in an older form. It will not make us clones; it will just give us a family resemblance.
You are aware that it will look suspicious if I disappear and then return to Hogwarts with the Cup but you're reborn? Raiden asked.
Voldemort snorted. Have you forgotten the fact that we're going to duel after the ritual Raiden? You'll return in a condition which should make it obvious to any "Light" people that you were an unwilling participant. Even though you're actually not unwilling.
True. I'm looking forward to that, Master, it should be fun.
Yes it will be. Don't be surprised if I toss a few Unforgivables your way, it would look very odd if the Dark Lord didn't attempt to Crucio his nemesis after all.
Yeah. At least you won't do any permanent damage. Will any other Death Eaters be at the rebirth?
No. I will call them afterwards. You will be introduced to them as my apprentice, Lord Raiden. I will make it clear that none of them are allowed to touch you, only I am allowed that privilege. If any should attempt to curse you, curse them back, or report them to me. You will answer to me and me alone.
What about Lucius and Severus? Lucius is my guardian and Severus is my Head of House. They have to have discipline privileges otherwise it will look fishy.
Fine. None of the Death Eaters but Lucius and Severus are allowed to touch you. Voldemort growled, somewhat annoyed that he had to let others have charge of his apprentice, no matter how much he trusted them.
It makes sense, Master. They are your right and left hand men after all. They will be responsible for my Dark Arts education when you're not available Raiden said, attempting to get his master to see reason. Voldemort cared about him, he knew that, and he cared about Voldemort, but the older wizard could be very possessive and overprotective at times.
True. There is one class of spells that I and I alone will teach you however, Voldemort finally said, seeing the sense in what Raiden had said.
What? Raiden asked, eager to hear what his master would be teaching him.
Parseltongue spells of course. You and I are the only living parselmouths in the world so it makes sense that I would teach my apprentice that.
Brilliant. Think of the terror we can inspire in the Death Eaters, having conversations in Parseltongue. Even if we're just discussing the weather it will sound menacing.
You, my apprentice are evil, Voldemort informed Raiden after a moment of shocked silence along the bond.
Raiden merely smirked and replied You taught me well, Master.
I did didn't I. You'd better go to sleep, I am well aware of what time it is. I will see you at the end of the Third Task.
Goodnight, Master
Goodnight, Raiden
Voldemort closed the link and sat back, thinking. His body, which was only temporary, was tired and he needed sleep as much as his apprentice did. Nagini, his familiar coiled up around the chair in which he sat and hissed soothingly. Voldemort smiled and fell asleep to the sound of the hisses of the large snake.
As the third task approached, Raiden brushed up on the spells he'd learnt in class, and learnt new ones, with the Avengers helping him all the way. They had not had their promised Animagus lesson with Sirius, as the man had been called away for something, and was now too busy to find time during the year. He had promised to get together with them over the summer though, which mollified the students, and allowed them time to get Daphne's animagus name which had finally been decided on.
Daphne's snake animagus form was now known as Krusa which was the root word for crush. Daphne herself had suggested it, as her python was a constrictor and the others had gone along with it. So now, the Avengers member list went as follows
Name Form Nickname
Sirius Black Dog Padfoot
Hermione Granger Owl Athena
Daphne Greengrass Python Krusa
Harry Potter (aka Raiden) King Cobra Veneficus
Draco Malfoy Ferret Argentum
Blaise Zabini Alsatian Diablo
Sirius was added as he was their unofficial advisor at the moment. It would become official when the Avengers became a proper part of the Dark Side, as the spies and information gatherers, where Raiden would be their connection to Lord Voldemort, and Sirius would be the person who helped to organize the reports that came in from each person. There were tentative plans to have him move to being an official report organizer for the Death Eaters as well as the Avengers but Sirius had so far refused. He wouldn't take the Dark Mark either, saying that he would have whatever Mark Raiden decided on, as he was an Avenger, not a Death Eater.
Finally, the day of the third task arrived. The task would be taking place during the evening, so it would be dark, and the weather was perfect, clear and the moon was out, offering a certain amount of light. Raiden meditated before going out of the tunnel into the arena, calming himself. He was getting impatient to get it over with, but impatience wouldn't help him here. He resented Crouch in a way; he wanted to beat Viktor and Cedric on his own terms, not because someone got rid of the competition for him.
After a speech by Dumbledore where he told the crowd what to expect, he then gathered the champions round him and told them to be wary, as they could end up finding the Cup but losing themselves in the process. Raiden inwardly snorted, he had no such worries, and he tossed a small smile Cedric's way as they went to their respective starting positions. Raiden would enter first, as he was in first place, followed by Viktor, then Cedric. As Raiden moved off down the path, he heard a rustling noise and looked back, swallowing a gasp as the hedge moved together to block his view of the crowd. Shaking his head, Raiden quelled his nervousness, and continued forward.
"Point me" he whispered, focusing on the Triwizard Cup. His wand spun round and round before settling on a north westerly direction. Raiden nodded and set off in the direction indicated by the wand. He wondered how his two rivals were doing but then decided to focus only on the cup.
As he walked forward, a wind sprang up round him and the rustling he heard behind him got louder. Looking over his shoulder, Raiden swore and began to run; he didn't fancy being crushed by a large living hedge after all. He dived through a gap and landed on his side, safe for the moment.
As he got up, he assessed himself for any injuries, finding only bruises, which were healed with a quick application of wandless healing magic. He did the Point Me spell again and found that he was pretty much on a straight course to the cup. Grinning, he headed towards his ride out of there.
Rounding a corner, Raiden ducked as a spell shot overhead. Bringing his wand up he saw that it was Viktor. The glazed look in his eyes betrayed the fact that he was under the Imperius curse. Annoyed, Raiden drew his wand and took a dueling stance.
"Stupefy" he hissed out. His anger fuelled the spell; making it strong enough to smash through Viktor's shield spell and knock him out. As he stepped over the Durmstrang champion, Raiden shook his head and hissed "Incarcerous" which bound Viktor from head to toe in steel cored rope.
His wand started to vibrate then which told him that the Cup was very close. He turned left at the next corner and saw Cedric coming towards him. They looked down the path between them and saw the cup at the end. They looked at each other and then they burst into a run.
Raiden knew he wouldn't win in a fair race; Cedric's legs were longer, so he cheated. Keeping his wand pointed at the older boy he sent out a silent series of spells which slowed Cedric down allowing Raiden to take the lead. He was annoyed that his stunning spell missed though. He was almost at the cup when Cedric tackled him. Before he could free himself, Cedric shouted "Accio!" at the cup.
The cup flew towards them, and Raiden caught it at the same time as Cedric. With a sickening jerk, both of them were flying forward. Raiden closed his eyes, and thought, "This definitely wasn't in the script."
They landed in a heap on the ground and Raiden quickly stunned and bound Cedric, hoping that his memory could be adjusted so he wouldn't remember this. The Dark Apprentice winced when the thought that Voldemort might very well decide to kill Cedric anyway, just to make sure that he couldn't tell anyone occurred to him. Sighing, he pushed Cedric off of him, taking Cedric's wand for safekeeping. He didn't need Cedric summoning the portkey to escape.
Looking round, Raiden turned when he heard a voice behind him say, "Lord Raiden?"
"Yes," Raiden replied, looking at the Death Eater that had come to meet him.
The older wizard held out his hand. "Lord Raiden, I am Rabastan Lestrange, I'm the one that will help in the rebirth ceremony this evening. If you'll follow me, I will take you to where we'll be conducting it."
Raiden nodded and followed Rabastan to an old manor which the Death Eater informed him was Riddle Manor. Entering the meeting hall, Raiden saw a potion bubbling nearby, and a book on the table beside it. Rabastan turned to his companion, silently wondering at the fact that this boy was his Lord's apprentice. He had noticed Raiden's companion and now ventured a question, hoping that he wouldn't be hurt for it, although he thought it unlikely, as to him, Raiden appeared around fourteen or fifteen, and too young to properly cast unforgivables.
"What will you do with your companion?"
Raiden looked at his guide and smirked although somewhat nervously. "Not sure. It wasn't planned, I assure you. I was supposed to arrive alone but Cedric accioed the cup and both of us touched it. He won't be going anywhere for the near future anyway so shall we get on with it. I'm looking forward to having my master back again, and meeting him in the flesh for the first time I can remember, as it were."
Rabastan smirked. "Yes, and so are all the other Death Eaters. Very well. If you'll just stand over here."
Raiden stood where indicated, in the centre of a large circle of runes. Rabastan picked up a bundle from the chair outside the circle which Raiden only just noticed. With a shudder, Raiden watched as his master's temporary body was dropped into the bubbling liquid. He hoped that Voldemort didn't drown in there.
Rabastan stood inside the circle with Raiden, holding the book and chanting a long string of words in Latin. As he chanted, the runes began to glow, and the potion bubbled furiously. Finally Rabastan turned to Raiden and withdrew a silver knife.
Silently he indicated that Raiden should hold out his left arm. When Raiden did so, Rabastan made a long, shallow cut on the inner forearm, where the Dark Mark was located on the Death Eaters coincidentally. Taking the now bloody knife, the Death Eater let five drops fall into the cauldron and finished the chant.
The runes were now glowing so brightly that both Death Eater and Dark Apprentice had to close their eyes to avoid being blinded. Raiden felt a sharp tug on the mental bond he shared with his master, and then there was a flash of light followed by darkness.
Cautiously, Raiden opened his eyes and gasped. Standing in front of him, dressed in deep black robes stood a fifty to sixty something year old Voldemort, although he looked like Tom Riddle. He was tall, with black hair, and piercing dark blue/green eyes. The family resemblance was subtle, but clear if you knew what to look for, although no one would mistake him for an older version of Harry Potter. He had just regained his old body, and the physical similarity to Harry Potter would be passed off as a coincidence.
Voldemort looked around, before taking a short walk, getting used to his new body. Turning, he saw Rabastan and Raiden, both of whom instinctively dropped to one knee.
"My Lord", "Master" they murmured in unison. Rabastan mutely held out Voldemort's wand, and the Dark Lord took it, smiling as he felt magic rush through him once more. Seeing that Raiden and Rabastan were both still kneeling, he rolled his eyes.
"Get up you two. Have you been formally introduced yet?" At head shakes he continued, "Raiden, meet Rabastan Lestrange, one of my strategists. He is third in command if you will, just under Lucius and Severus in the Death Eater hierarchy. Rabastan, meet Raiden, my apprentice. He has been my apprentice since he was eight years old."
Rabastan nodded, looking at Raiden with interest. Taking a look round the room, Voldemort noticed Cedric, who had started to stir and fight the bindings that Raiden had placed on him. Raising an eyebrow, Voldemort turned back to his apprentice.
"I was under the impression that you were supposed to come alone, Raiden, and yet you've brought an uninvited guest. May I ask why?"
Raiden shrugged and repeated his story of how Cedric came to be with him. Voldemort looked at Cedric thoughtfully. "You know that duel we had planned Raiden. I believe it would be good for you to have a warm up first, so why don't you duel your classmate here. It would be good for me to see where you are in terms of spell knowledge and dueling capability."
Raiden snorted. "Yeah and you just want me tired out so you don't have to fight as hard later right, Master?"
Rabastan winced; if any Death Eater had spoken to Voldemort like that they would have been Crucioed severely, if not outright killed. However, he realized that Raiden enjoyed a slightly more privileged place than the average Death Eater, evidenced by the fact that Voldemort merely raised an eyebrow and replied, "Not true. Remember the terms of the duel, Raiden, or have you forgotten so soon?"
Raiden smirked. "Not at all. Shall we get Cedric up then, I have his wand with me."
Voldemort nodded and gestured for Raiden to bring Cedric to the centre of the room, where Rabastan hastily marked out a dueling arena. Before the duel could begin, Raiden unbound Cedric and gave him back his wand.
"Here you go Cedric, just a friendly little duel right," he smiled.
Cedric glared at him and spat back, "Traitor. How could you join with him?"
Raiden shook his head and backed away to his side of the small arena. Voldemort then leaned forward and summoned Raiden's wand to him. As the two boys stared at him in shock, Voldemort leaned back in his chair and smirked.
"I want you to display your wandless skills, Raiden. You're already very good with a wand, now I want to see whether your wandless skills have suffered through the years."
Raiden shrugged and turned back to Cedric, standing in a relaxed stance, ready to move at an instant's notice. Cedric aimed his wand at him and waited. When the signal to start came he launched the first curse.
"Diffindo!" he snarled, aiming for Raiden's throat. In his mind, Harry had betrayed them and deserved to die. He wasn't expecting Raiden to dodge it, nor for the younger boy to roll towards him and shoot a wandless, silent Stupefy at him.
Cedric blocked it, and had to dodge another one which came almost immediately. Raiden was enjoying himself as he sent off curses and hexes and jinxes in a random variety.
"Tarantallegra, Stupefy, Incarcerous, Avis, Diffindo" he sent, some vocalized, some not, and watched Cedric struggle to keep up. Seeing that he wasn't going to win, as his opponent was far more skilled than his age suggested, and having been dropped to the ground by several kicks and leg sweeps already, Cedric decided to try escaping. Dumbledore needed to know that Harry had betrayed them.
With that in mind, Cedric spun and yelled, "ACCIO CUP!" aiming at the Triwizard cup which was sitting by Voldemort's chair, as Raiden had levitated it as well as Cedric up to Riddle Manor when he first arrived. Seeing Cedric's plan, Raiden hit the cup, and unfortunately his master as well, with a banishing charm, sending both Voldemort and the cup crashing into the wall behind them. Voldemort ended up sitting in his overturned chair, with the cup on his lap, and a stunned goldfish look on his face which had Rabastan working overtime to hide the mirth that bubbled up inside him.
Spinning to face his opponent, Raiden yelled the first spell that came to mind.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The deadly curse leapt out of his hand, shocking everyone present. At fourteen years of age, and without a wand, Raiden shouldn't have been able to get more than a flash from that curse if even that. Yet, the spell had leapt from his palm and struck Cedric in the chest. The seventh year flew backwards a short distance and lay still, not breathing.
Rabastan looked at Raiden with wide eyes, almost gaping in his shock before hurrying over to Cedric and checking him. Looking back, he wondered whether Raiden was in trouble, as Voldemort did not look very happy with him at all.
"Is he dead?" Voldemort queried.
Rabastan shook his head. "Not quite, my Lord. Drowning effect. Should I finish him off?"
Voldemort shook his head. "No, Rabastan." He looked at Raiden and his voice dropped to a quiet whisper that had Rabastan shivering. No one who was addressed in that tone of voice left Voldemort's presence without being in a severe amount of pain.
"Raiden, follow me," was all Voldemort said but Raiden swallowed, only now remembering his master's firm order that he not use any Unforgivables until he'd reached his magical maturity, which would be around the age of sixteen. Traditionally, the last year of Hogwarts was where the seventh year students had come into their full power and abilities, and were now learning to control them before being released into the wizarding world as adult witches and wizards.
Voldemort and Raiden walked over to Cedric, who was lying on his back, his eyes still holding a look of frozen shock. Raiden swallowed again, it didn't matter that he was on the Dark Side; he didn't like the killing curse and having used it without thinking like that left a nasty taste in his mouth. Voldemort silently offered him his own wand, and Raiden took the thirteen and a half inch yew wand with confusion.
"We can't have Harry Potter's wand performing a killing curse, and I assure you that when you arrive back at Hogwarts with a body, that's the first thing they'll do, check your wand with Priori Incantatem. Our wands are brothers; mine will work just as well."
"What do you want me to do, Master?" Raiden asked, although he already knew what Voldemort wanted.
This was confirmed when Voldemort said, "You started it, you will finish it. Kill him."
"I, I don't think I have enough energy to do it, Master" Raiden murmured quietly, not wanting to admit weakness in front of Rabastan but knowing that he wouldn't be able to complete the task without help.
Voldemort sighed, before opening the bond and feeding energy to Raiden through the link. Using that energy boost, Raiden pointed his master's wand at Cedric and cast the spell again.
When the green light had faded, Cedric was dead, and Raiden was now contemplating the amount of trouble he was in for what he'd done. Rabastan was quietly making himself as unnoticed as possible, he had a feeling that the young apprentice who he'd started to like, despite their acquaintanceship being only an hour or so old, was about to get his first taste of the Cruciatus. He was right.
"Rabastan, please leave. Speak of this to no one; I will call a meeting when I am ready to introduce my apprentice to them. For now, leave."
Rabastan bowed and left. As he did he could have sworn he heard Voldemort murmur "I need to teach my apprentice a lesson." Shaking off the feeling, he apparated home, and spent the rest of the evening drinking firewhiskey.
Raiden unconsciously stepped backwards as Voldemort reclaimed his wand. Sitting down in his chair Voldemort glared at him and then hissed, "Kneel."
Raiden knelt obediently, feeling sick. Voldemort hadn't forced him to be subservient like this for a long time, never to be honest. Raiden had always done it out of respect of course, but Voldemort had seemed to prefer that Raiden not engage in the bowing and scraping that the Death Eaters had done in the past and would do again. As his future equal, Raiden was not on the Death Eater level, he was on a level between them and Voldemort.
"What did I tell you before about using the Unforgivables, Raiden?" Voldemort's voice was deceptively soft, but his anger was clear.
Raiden shivered inwardly and answered, "You told me not to use them until I'd reached my magical maturity, Master."
Voldemort nodded. "I did. And what do you call a Killing Curse?"
Raiden shook slightly as he answered, "An Unforgivable." He raised his eyes to those of his master and almost, almost wet himself. Gone was the patient, if slightly temperamental and demanding teacher he had known, and in his place was the Dark Lord that everyone, except Dumbledore feared. He had never seen Voldemort so angry, so menacing before, not even in his second year, when he'd gone down to the Chamber of Secrets. Inwardly sighing, he resolved to accept whatever punishment his master chose to dish out, and hopefully accept it with a modicum of dignity.
"You disobeyed me, Raiden" was Voldemort's next statement, to which Raiden could only nod in agreement. Voldemort huffed and enquired, "Exactly why did you choose to do so?"
Raiden was very careful here, he didn't want to seem flippant about it, as he was in serious trouble and didn't want to worsen it. "Um, I just said the first spell that came to mind, Master, it wasn't a conscious choice. I wasn't expecting it to work."
Voldemort nodded, he certainly knew of situations where a spell could come to mind automatically which wasn't appropriate for the situation, and he'd been as shocked as everyone else when it worked. It shouldn't have been possible.
'Then again, he did survive a killing curse, I shouldn't be surprised that it worked' he thought to himself before fixing a dark glare on his apprentice once again. He was mildly impressed that Raiden wasn't cowering on the floor, hadn't wet himself, or done anything else to betray the fact that he was afraid. Voldemort could sense through their bond that Raiden was very afraid right now, although the Dark Lord was also impressed at the fact that Raiden wasn't afraid of him but rather of what he was going to do.
Voldemort was composing his next verbal salvo when he noticed that Nagini had come in at some point and was now coiling round Raiden in the same manner that she curled round Voldemort when she wanted to soothe him. The snake fixed her human with as much of a glare as snakes can manage and hissed
Don't be so hard on him, Tom, he didn't mean to disobey.
Stay out of this, if you want you can comfort him after I'm finished Voldemort hissed back, before turning his attention back to Raiden, who was looking at Nagini with some measure of shock. He'd assumed that the large snake would be on Voldemort's side but apparently not.
"You may be above the Death Eaters but you are not yet my equal, Raiden. You still have a lot to learn before you get to my level. I will give you more leeway than I will the Death Eaters but I will not tolerate disobedience from you any more than I will from them. You remember the Chamber of Secrets incident?"
Raiden nodded and braced himself for a massive headache. He was therefore unprepared for when Voldemort pointed his wand at him and whispered, "Crucio!"
Pain was all he knew for the next thirty seconds as the curse was held. Hearing about it, seeing it performed on spiders, and being threatened with it, was nothing compared to actually being under it. Raiden had thought that having Voldemort manipulate his scar to give him a painful headache was bad but now he knew that this was the punishment that he would be the most eager to avoid in the future.
After half a minute, Voldemort broke the curse, mindful of the fact that Raiden was only fourteen and was not used to the Cruciatus curse the way the Death Eaters were. He was definitely impressed, and even felt a small stirring of pride at the way that Raiden who had been rolling on the floor while under the curse, pulled himself back to his kneeling position afterwards, even though it was slower and the pain that he was in was obvious. Lifting his wand again, after allowing a small recovery time, Voldemort cast the curse again.
This time Raiden couldn't hold in the pained yelp as the curse hit him for the second time. The first time he had managed, through sheer willpower, to hold in the whimpers and moans but this time he couldn't. He only hoped that his master would hold to what he'd done before, that being one sound of pain from Raiden and the punishment stopped. Apparently he did, as after another thirty second burst, Voldemort tucked his wand back up his sleeve and regarded his shaking apprentice with something approaching remorse.
All he said though was, "Do not disobey me again, Raiden, I would hate to have to have a repeat of this performance."
Raiden nodded shakily and replied, "I will do my best, Master. Um, are we going to have our duel?"
Voldemort shook his head. "No. Not now, you're in no condition to duel and I'd rather duel you when you're in top condition. Go back to Hogwarts, the cut on your arm from the ritual, and your current state should be enough to convince people that you were an innocent, unwilling participant in my rebirth and the other boy an unfortunate bystander. Only you and I, and Rabastan will know the truth, and if you choose to inform Severus and Lucius you may."
Thinking for a moment, Voldemort added, "You may tell people of my return if you wish, it is highly unlikely that they will believe you, which is what we want." Eyeing Raiden again, Voldemort rose and held out a hand to Raiden, who took it gratefully, and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. Voldemort steadied him until he could walk, and then Raiden went over to Cedric. Taking hold of Cedric's shoulder, and gripping his wand with the same hand, he summoned the cup, and vanished from Riddle Manor, arriving back in the middle of the stadium like entrance to the maze.
As people surrounded him, and loud hysterics started over Cedric's death, Raiden locked eyes with Dumbledore, and said two words.
"Voldemort's back."
Author Note
Well now we know the names for all the current Avengers. Thank you very much to Kin Pandun for Daphne's Avenger name. Hopefully you all liked the chapter. I know I liked writing it. Next chapter we see the aftermath of the Tournament, and the first Death Eater meeting, as well as Voldemort and Raiden's duel.
May the Force be with you
Padawan Lynne