Oh! What A Tangled Web We Weave!

Harry and Melodia quietly approached the massive hole, through which they had watched Voldemort re-enter the Riddle house. Melodia was dumbfounded at just what was keeping this structure from falling into a pile of rubble. She remained in her orb-like form, hovering just inside the enormous hole in the wall. Harry had come to rest on a fairly long piece of wood protruding from the gash in the wall which was not entirely stable, but seemed capable of withstanding his phoenix weight well enough.

They spied quietly on the Dark Lord, as he made his way across the splintered wooden floor and towards a now conscience Lucius Malfoy, who was struggling desperately to break free of his bonds. Voldemort had managed to crawl to Malfoy's side and they were speaking in low tones. Both Melodia and Harry leaned in just a shade hoping to overhear their conversation. Voldemort was definitely up to something. At first, the Dark Lord chastised his fallen Death Eater for his failures. Then it became clear that Lucius was pleading to redeem himself. Voldemort said that he was going to use Malfoy in some way to shift the momentum of this battle back to their evil side.

'Dear God!' Melodia gasped. 'Lucius! I almost forgot about him!'

The spell that she had woven for the removal of his magical powers still seemed to be in tact, but it was, by no means, a permanent spell. At this late hour, Melodia realized that enough time had passed for Malfoy to slowly begin recovering the use of his magical ability. This was a complete nightmare!

'Melodia?' Harry chimed into her thoughts, 'So what now?What did you forget about Malfoy?' he asked nervously.

She didn't answer. Now was not the time to panic, but Melodia felt that this situation had the potential to become an even greater mess than it already was!

'Crap!' Melodia thought before she could stop herself.

Fearful that Harry would grow impatient for her response and unintentionally draw attention to them, she allowed a complete thought to pass to Harry.

'Hold on, Harry….I need to see if I can tell exactly what is going on here. Just be patient for a moment' was the safest response she could manage. It was then she decided to block Harry from her thoughts temporarily, just the way she and Severus had rehearsed. That was the danger of using telepathy. Shared thoughts were not always beneficial.

Half heartedly accepting Melodia's response, at least for now, Harry turned his attention to the events unfolding beyond the hole in the Riddle House wall. He watched intently, bewildered and not understanding what he was witnessing. After a few moments passed, Harry realized that Voldemort must have been preparing to use Malfoy's stronger physique just as he had with Professor Quirrel years ago.

'If Malfoy has no powers, then what good would it do for Voldemort to unite with him?' Harry wondered. As he continued to watch this bizarre ritual, he could not help wondering, if this could actually work this time. After all, there was the matter of the destroyed Horcruxes to consider. Voldemort must not have been aware that the only portion of his torn soul he had remaining was the one in his now weakened body.

The undeniably weakened Voldemort appeared to be having difficulty accomplishing the union. Harry remained hopeful that Voldemort would not be successful in his efforts.

In the meantime, certain that she had figured out their next move, Melodia resumed her telepathic conversation with Harry.

'I don't know a lot about this sort of thing, Harry, but I am familiar enough with it to say that I seriously doubt it is possible for Voldi to pull that off. With only one piece of broken soul left, he needs that to survive in the body that he has now.' She hoped that Harry would be relieved to hear this but she did not want to supply him a false sense of security, so she continued, 'However, we should not take anything for granted where evil is concerned. We must play this as if it is entirely possible for Voldi to succeed.

'But Malfoy is powerless!'Harry insisted. 'I almost wish he could do it! That would solve everything! Wouldn't it?' Harry inquired.

'No, Harry. Not quite. It is true that Lucius has no magical ability just now, but it will not be long before he regains it. You see, the spell I placed on him was intended to last an incredibly long time, but it was not permanent.'

Harry was not expecting this. No way! He must have misunderstood her. In a tone that came out sounding much more irritated, than frightened he said,

'Bloody hell!'Do you mean that he will get his powers back? I thought you banished them!'He almost screeched. Harry's wings fluttered nervously and he stumbled a bit on his very unsteady wooden perch.

'Calm down, dear," Melodia instructed. 'No witch or wizard can permanently remove magical powers by using spell alone. Only death or perhaps some unfortunate psychological impairment can do that.'She reasoned.

'But I thought…'Harry began, but was cut off abruptly by Melodia's next.

'Hang on, Harry.' She broke in. 'I have an idea. Do you still have Voldi's wand?'

'Er, yeah…but why? What are you… ?' Harry was stumped.

'Ok, good, let's move on. And, Harry, I need for you to pay close attention to my words and follow my lead!' With that, she began to move slowly toward the unsuspecting Voldemort and Malfoy with a somewhat confused Harry Potter in tow.

~O~

Lucius let out a sobbing groan when he realized the manner in which he would be expected to serve the Dark Lord.

'NO!' He said inwardly. 'Surely this can not be happening to me!'

It was all for naught, however, because what Harry had first believed was correct. Voldemort had lost all of his Horcruxes and it was now impossible for his soul to detach from this body he was in.

Lucius was aware of only one thing. For some unknown reason, Voldemort had failed.

Relief flooded his entire being, but only momentarily. Despite his fading physical strength, Voldemort remained mentally on task.

" Lord Voldemort has most certainly not failed!"Tom Riddle Boomed. Apparently his ability to invade minds had not suffered along with rest of him. He was livid as he continued. "Yourtreasonous thoughts will be your undoing!"

"I assure you, my lord, I didn't mean to …"Malfoy began, sounding respectful but also a bit less shaken that he did previously.

"You can assure me of nothing! You WILL be of use to me, Malfoy, and it matters not if you intend to cooperate! And, when my victory is complete, I will deal with you as I deal with all traitors!"Voldemort bellowed.

Neither Tom Riddle, nor Lucius Malfoy was remotely aware of the two eavesdroppers from above now approaching them.

~O~

Hovering at a safe distance above the unsuspecting duo, Melodia took a deep breath….

"Temper, Temper, Voldi-man," chanted a rather charming female voice.

Voldemort quickly released his grip on Malfoy's wrist and turned to see who and where this voice was coming from. His snake-like eyes darted about in search of the intruder. Lucius was completely unnerved. Once free of Voldemort's grip, he was able to successfully remove the remainder of his bonds. It was then that the voice chimed in again.

"You really should brush up on your people skills Tommy Boy." Her last followed by soft mischievous laughter.

"Insolence!"

" Who dares address Lord Voldemort in common?" Voldemort fumed. Adrenaline to coursed through his wounded body, and quickly he scrambled in an effort to rise to his feet. He very nearly reached his feet, but just as he was about to gain his footing, Voldemort plummeted once again to the hard wood floor with a hard thud.

"Aaaaarghhh!" He cried out in frustration and pain.

" Whoa! Get a grip Tom! You should really take a deep breath and try to compose yourself," Melodia jabbed. She gleefully took in the sight of the near broken Voldemort, before she continued.

"Of course, I can't honestly say that I blame you. I mean, just look at you! Given the sad shape that you are in, I can only imagine how you're going to be capable of dealing with another betrayal." Melodia's laughter filled the atmosphere.