Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.
Chapter One Hundred Five
Lord Voldemort's Return
Harry felt that dreaded jerk behind his navel then it seemed to him like he was falling for much too long as colors seemed to pass by, his hand stuck to the Triwizard Cup. Suddenly he landed hard against the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He hoped that he had been wrong with his growing terror of a second ago, when he had tried to keep Cedric from getting to the cup. He hoped that when he opened his eyes that he would be in the front of the maze, looking at the judges and students cheering for the victor. But he knew that wasn't going to happen.
He slowly opened his eyes, picking himself off the ground and gripped his wand tightly in his hand. The surrounding that he was now in was worse than he thought it would be as he found himself in a graveyard. He looked at the tomb closest to him and his sense of foreboding rose as he recognized the name. Tom Riddle.
He backed away looking around him for the quickest way to get out of the graveyard, his eyes resting on the Triwizard Cup. He had a second of wondering before he heard the snap of a twig from behind him and he turned, his wand raised and he shouted, "Stupefy!"
He saw someone stumble backwards and his curse missed its target by a foot. Then, before he could react, Harry's head was on fire, the scar on his forehead burning worse than he ever remembered it hurting before and he couldn't help but close his eyes and reach for his forehead, all conscious thought leaving him.
"FOOL!" he heard a high pitch voice yell. "CURSE HIM!"
Harry tried to push the pain out of his mind and defend himself against whatever was coming but before he could even open his eyes he heard the curse and he fell backwards, crashing into the tombstone behind him. Before he could react he felt himself being bound to the tombstone, unable to move.
Whoever had bound Harry was now moving around and Harry forced his eyes open so that he could see what was happening. He even tried struggling against the ropes … he tried transforming but he couldn't … the ropes seemed to burn him when he tried and he couldn't concentrate on the transformation as he was held against the tombstone.
When he heard the huffing he looked up to see a man bring out a cauldron … a cauldron so large it could hold a full size man. There was a sloshing sound as if the cauldron was filled with water, or some other liquid. As the man passed the cauldron his hood fell off and Harry was angry, but not surprised, to see Wormtail.
"You," he spat out bitterly, but Wormtail didn't seem to pay any attention to him as he continued to get things ready. A fire was set under the cauldron and as it started to flame the potion within it started to spark as well.
"It is ready," he heard the high pitch voice again, this time it was coming from a bundle on the ground which had a giant snake slithering around it. Wormtail walked to the bundle and unwrapped it to reveal a horrible sight. The thing inside the bundle was the size of a child crouching, but there was nothing childlike about it. It was hairless and scaly looking, a dark, raw, reddish black. When the creature turned and Harry saw its face, he felt his body cringe. It had a snakelike features and its eyes were gleaming red.
Wormtail picked up the thing that Harry knew had to be what remained of Voldemort, a look of disgust on the rat like face as it held he's master to him. He then dropped Voldemort into the cauldron and Harry couldn't help but hope that he would drown somehow … or that the potion would fail …
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!" Wormtail said in a shaky, frighten voice as he raised his wand, clearly starting the ritual of dark magic that was about to take place.
At his words, the surface of the grave in front of Harry started to crack and dust seemed to rise into the air and went into the cauldron causing a reaction to the potion within.
Wormtail then pulled a knife out of his boot and Harry cringed away from him but Wormtail didn't get any closer to him as he started chanting again. "Flesh – of the servant – w-willing given – you will – revive- your master."
Understanding came to Harry as Wormtail stretched out his arm and moved the knife towards it. Harry shut his eyes not wanting to see but he could do nothing about the cries of pain and terrible whimpers that came from Wormtail. When Harry opened his eyes he was able to see Wormtail drop something into the cauldron, trying hard not to comprehend what it was, though his eyes traveled to Wormtail's arm that was bloody and distinctly missing something.
And then Wormtail was walking towards him, the knife in his remaining hand and this time Harry knew that it was his turn.
"B-blood of the enemy … forcibly taken … you will … resurrect your foe."
Harry tried struggling again, trying to get away from the rat with the knife but it was useless; he couldn't move or do anything else. Wormtail slashed at Harry's right arm with the bloody knife pulling a vial out of his pocket and filling it with Harry's blood.
Wormtail then went back to the cauldron pouring the contents of the vial into the cauldron causing the liquid within to turn a blinding white. Harry knew that the ritual was over with now as Wormtail dropped to his knees cradling his missing hand to his chest and whimpering in pain.
Harry's eyes traveled to the cauldron and he prayed again that it wouldn't work. That the potion was wrong somehow … but it was no use. In no time at all, the tall, slim man rose out of the cauldron.
"Robe me," the man said, in the same high pitch voice as it had when he had been that thing. Wormtail didn't hesitate, despite the fact that he was clearly in agonizing pain, to do as his master had bid him.
The man then walked out of the cauldron towards Harry. His cold red eyes boring into Harry, but Harry didn't flinch, as he looked back at the man that had been haunting his life. He was whiter than a skull, his nose flat and snakelike and he hardly looked human at all. But it was clear, Lord Voldemort had risen again.
Voldemort then looked away from Harry so he could exam his own body. Taking in his knew strength and seemed to be pleased with what he saw, though after being that creepy childlike monster, this had to be appreciated. Voldemort was wrapped in his observation of himself for a minute, paying no attention to anything else as he examined his body, but then he walked over to where Wormtail was crying on the ground. He lean down and picked up the wand that was there, and examined that too before he pointed it at Wormtail, causing the man to fly backwards in more pain than ever.
Voldemort turned back to Harry, laughing, without an ounce of sympathy for the follower he had just hurt.
"My Lord," Wormtail said, "my Lord, you promised … you did promise …"
"Hold out your arm," Voldemort said lazily and when Wormtail held out his right arm thanking Voldemort, he sneered at the groveling man on the floor. "Your other arm, Wormtail."
Wormtail pleaded more but Voldemort paid no attention to that as he pulled on Wormtail's left arm and pushed his sleeve up until a vivid red tattoo, with a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth was shown … the Dark Mark. Voldemort examined the mark carefully and said softly, "It is back, they will all have noticed it … and now, we shall see … now we shall know …"
He then pressed his forefinger to the mark on Wormtail's arm and another searing pain shot through Harry's forehead as Wormtail started howling again. When Harry looked back at the mark he noticed it had turned jet black and Voldemort looked satisfied with this as he straighten up and looked around the dark graveyard.
Voldemort then started to ask questions, seeming to talk more to himself than Harry as he wonder whether or not his Death Eaters would dare come back to him. Voldemort then started talking about his father. "You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father. A Muggle and a fool … very like your dear mother. But they both had their uses did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child … and I killed my father, and see how useful he was proved himself, in death …"
Harry was forced to listen as Voldemort continued to explain about his origins. About how his mother was a witch who fell in love with a Muggle that eventually abandoned her because he didn't like magic. He talked about his mother dying leaving him to the Muggle orphanage and how he vowed to revenged himself on his father, who he had been named after.
Voldemort suddenly stopped retelling his family history as the Death Eaters started arriving, calling them his true family. Harry was sure that he cared just as much about this new family as his old, willing to kill any of them that disappointed him. Harry watched as these masked people that were Apparating into the graveyard made a circle around Voldemort (and encircling Harry, too). Each of the Death Eaters groveled at Voldemort's feet, kissing his robes before going into the circle that seemed to have assigned position as there were holes in the circle where they waited for more Death Eaters to show up.
Eventually Voldemort seemed to realize that no one else was going to be coming and started his speech. "Welcome, Death Eaters. Thirteen years … thirteen years since last we met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday, we are still united under the Dark Mark, then! Or are we?" Harry noticed the Death Eaters stiffen at the words as Voldemort sniffed the air. "I smell guilt. There is a stench of guilt upon the air."
No one made to speak as Voldemort continued on with his speech, but the Death Eaters were clearly terrified of their master. "I see you all whole and healthy, with your powers intact- such prompt appearances! And I ask myself … why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?" Another shiver of terror ran across the Death Eaters but Voldemort pushed on, "And I answered myself, they must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies, and they pleaded innocence, and ignorance, and bewitchment…
"And then I ask myself, but how would they have believed I would not rise again? They who knew the steps I took long ago to guard myself against mortal death? They, who had seen proofs of the immensity of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living?
"And I answer myself, perhaps they believed a still greater power could exist, one that could vanquish even Lord Voldemort … perhaps they now paid allegiance to another … perhaps that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles, Albus Dumbledore?"
The Death Eaters started muttering, shaking their heads in disapproval to that but Voldemort ignored them as he added, "It is a disappointment to me… I confess myself disappointed…"
One of the Death Eater broke away from the rest and tried to plead with his master but of course all he got for his trouble was to have the Cruciatus Curse used on him and he withered on the floor in pain.
"Get up, Avery," said Voldemort softly. "Stand up. You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive. I do not forget. Thirteen long years… I want thirteen years' repayment before I forgive you."
"Out of all my so call faithful servants, it was the one that had gone to Azkaban and had to escape that prison to come and restore me to my body," Voldemort said. "He has repaid his dept for his lack of usefulness during the end of the last conflict, isn't that right Wormtail."
Wormtail was still cupping his bloody arm, answered, "Y-yes master."
Voldemort then waved his wand and what looked like molten silver covered Wormtail's arm, making a gleaming replica of a human hand. Wormtail flexed the fingers of his new hand, his sobbing stopping as he got up, "My Lord. Master … it is beautiful … thank you … thank you …"
"Remember were you loyalty lies," Voldemort said coldly to him and Wormtail turned to join the others as Voldemort turned his eyes back to the other Death Eaters. They were visibly nervous knowing that Wormtail had suffered in Azkaban, unlike they had, and had gone to find Voldemort and he had still lost his hand … they didn't know what was going to be coming to them but it was sure to be worse. Though there was still a bit of confidence about the Death Eaters as if they believed that they had more of a worth to Voldemort than Wormtail had now, and that would help them.
"Lucius," Voldemort said walking before a certain Death Eater, "I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a sport of Muggle-torture, I believe? Yet you never tried to find me Lucius … though I know that you were aware of where I was known to be. Tell me Lucius … why have you never tried to find me."
"I … I was being watched closely my Lord," the normally drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy sounded shaky as he said this. "If I were to try to find you My Lord … the Aurors would surely …"
"Mmm …" Voldemort said, disbelief coloring his tone. "You have disappointed me Lucius," he added his cold eyes boring into Lucius and the threat was clear in his eyes and voice, "I expect more faithful service in the future."
"Of course, my Lord, of course …" Lucius bowed and Voldemort moved on to his other Death Eaters, listing his disappointment in each of them and praising the missing Death Eaters that had gone to Azkaban in their attempts to find him.
When Voldemort came to a gap in the circle he said, "And here we have six missing Death Eaters … three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return … he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever … he will be killed, of course … and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already reentered my service."
Harry's heart pounded in his chest as he wondered who this last Death Eater was, knowing that he was the reason for all the trouble he faced this year.
"He is at Hogwarts that faithful servant and it was through his efforts that our young friend arrived here tonight …" Voldemort went on to say and all eyes turned to Harry. "Yes, Harry Potter has kindly joined us for my rebirthing party. One might go so far as to call him my guest of honor."
Lucius Malfoy seemed to have recognized an opening in this comment because he stepped forward and asked, "Master, we crave to know … we beg you to tell us … how you have achieved this … this miracle … how you managed to return to us …"
"Ah, what a story it is Lucius," Voldemort said in a tone that suggested he had expected one of his Death Eaters to ask this question. "And it begins – and ends- with my young friend here."
Voldemort walked towards Harry, everyone's eyes were on the two of them as he continued to explain. "You know, of course, that they have called this boy my downfall? You all know that on the night I lost my powers and my body, I tried to kill him. His mother died in the attempt to save him – and unwittingly provided him with a protection I admit I had not foreseen … I could not touch the boy. His mother left upon him the traces of her sacrifice … This is old magic, I should have remembered it, I was foolish to overlook it … but no matter. I can touch him now."
Voldemort then touched Harry's cheek, and Harry felt the cold tip of his finger and his scar burned worse than ever and his head felt like it would burst with the pain. Voldemort laughed as he held his hand there for a few more second before pulling it away, talking to his Death Eaters again.
"I miscalculated, my friends, I admit it. My curse was deflected by the woman's foolish sacrifice, and it rebounded upon myself. Aaah … pain beyond pain, my friends; nothing could have prepared me for it. I was ripped from my body, I was less than spirit, less than the merest ghost … but still, I was alive. What I was, even I do not know … I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality. You know my goal - to conquer death. And now, I was tested, and it appeared that one or more of my experiments had worked … for I had not been killed, though the curse should have done it. Nevertheless, I was as powerless as the weakest creature alive, and without the means to help myself … for I had no body, and every spell that might have helped me required the use of a wand …
"I remember only forcing myself, sleeplessly, endlessly, second by second, to exist … I settled in a faraway place, in a forest, and I waited … Surely, one of my faithful Death Eaters would try and find me … one of them would come and perform the magic I could not, to restore me to a body … but I waited in vain …"
A shuddered went through the Death Eaters as Voldemort paused letting everyone hear his disappointed in them before he started again.
"Only one power remained to me. I could possess the bodies of others. But I dared not go where other humans were plentiful, for I knew that the Aurors were still abroad and searching for me. I sometimes inhabited animals - snakes, of course, being my preference - but I was little better off inside them than as pure spirit, for their bodies were ill adapted to perform magic … and my possession of them shortened their lives; none of them lasted long …
"Then … four years ago … the means for my return seemed assured. A wizard - young, foolish, and gullible - wandered across my path in the forest I had made my home. Oh, he seemed the very chance I had been dreaming of … for he was a teacher at Dumbledore's school … he was easy to bend to my will … he brought me back to this country, and after a while, I took possession of his body, to supervise him closely as he carried out my orders. But my plan failed. I did not manage to steal the Philosopher's Stone. I was not to be assured immortal life. I was thwarted … thwarted, once again, by Harry Potter…
"The servant died when I left his body, and I was left as weak as ever I had been," Voldemort continued. "I returned to my hiding place far away, and I will not pretend to you that I didn't then fear that I might never regain my powers … Yes, that was perhaps my darkest hour … I could not hope that I would be sent another wizard to possess … and I had given up hope, now, that any of my Death Eaters cared what had become of me …
"And then, not even a year ago, when I had almost abandoned hope, it happened at last … a servant returned to me. Wormtail here, had escaped from Azkaban and spied on one he thought would be my loyal servant to discover where I might be located at. There again I was nearly thwarted by Harry Potter and those that Wormtail had once considered his friends, but luckily for me, he had managed to get away with the useful knowledge of where I was to be found. He was helped, of course, by the rats he met along the way. Wormtail has a curious affinity with rats, do you not, Wormtail? His filthy little friends told him there was a place, deep in an Albanian forest, that they avoided, where small animals like themselves had met their deaths by a dark shadow that possessed them …
"But his journey back to me was not smooth, was it, Wormtail? For, hungry one night, on the edge of the very forest where he had hoped to find me, he foolishly stopped at an inn for some food … and who should he meet there, but one Bertha Jorkins, a witch from the Ministry of Magic.
"Now see the way that fate favors Lord Voldemort. This might have been the end of Wormtail, and of my last hope for regeneration. But Wormtail - displaying a presence of mind I would never have expected from him – convinced Bertha Jorkins to accompany him on a nighttime stroll. He overpowered her … he brought her to me. And Bertha Jorkins, who might have ruined all, proved instead to be a gift beyond my wildest dreams … for - with a little persuasion - she became a veritable mine of information.
"She told me that the Triwizard Tournament would be played at Hogwarts this year. She told me that she knew of a faithful Death Eater who would be only too willing to help me, if I could only contact him. She told me many things … but the means I used to break the Memory Charm upon her were powerful, and when I had extracted all useful information from her, her mind and body were both damaged beyond repair. She had now served her purpose. I could not possess her. I disposed of her.
"Wormtail's body, of course, was ill adapted for possession, since he was a known fugitive, and would attract far too much attention if noticed. However, he was the able-bodied servant I needed, and, poor wizard though he is, Wormtail was able to follow the instructions I gave him, which would return me to a rudimentary, weak body of my own, a body I would be able to inhabit while awaiting the essential ingredients for true rebirth… a spell or two of my own invention… a little help from my dear Nagini," Voldemort's red eyes fell upon the continually circling snake, "a potion concocted from unicorn blood, and the snake venom Nagini provided … I was soon returned to an almost human form, and strong enough to travel.
"There was no hope of stealing the Philosopher's Stone anymore, for I knew that Dumbledore would have seen to it that it was destroyed. But I was willing to embrace mortal life again, before chasing immortality. I set my sights lower … I would settle for my old body back again, and my old strength.
"I knew that to achieve this - it is an old piece of Dark Magic, the potion that revived me tonight - I would need three powerful ingredients. Well, one of them was already at hand, was it not, Wormtail? Flesh given by a servant …
"My father's bone, naturally, meant that we would have to come here, where he was buried. But the blood of a foe … Wormtail would have had me use any wizard, would you not, Wormtail? Any wizard who had hated me … as so many of them still do. But I knew the one I must use, if I was to rise again, more powerful than I had been when I had fallen. I wanted Harry Potter's blood. I wanted the blood of the one who had stripped me of power thirteen years ago … for the lingering protection his mother once gave him would then reside in my veins too …
"But how to get at Harry Potter? For he has been better protected than I think even he knows, protected in ways devised by Dumbledore long ago, when it fell to him to arrange the boy's future. Dumbledore invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy's protection as long as he is in his relations' care. Not even I can touch him there … Then, of course, there was the Quidditch World Cup … I thought his protection might be weaker there, away from his relations and Dumbledore, but I was not yet strong enough to attempt a kidnap in the midst of a horde of Ministry wizards. And then, the boy would return to Hogwarts, where he is under the crooked nose of that Muggle-loving fool from morning until night. So how could I take him?
"Why … by using Bertha Jorkins's information, of course. Use my one faithful Death Eater, stationed at Hogwarts, to ensure that the boy's name was entered into the Goblet of Fire. Use my Death Eater to ensure that the boy won the tournament - that he touched the Triwizard Cup first - the cup which my Death Eater had turned into a Portkey, which would bring him here, beyond the reach of Dumbledore's help and protection, and into my waiting arms. And here he is … the boy you all believed had been my downfall …"
Voldemort then turned towards Harry and pointed his wand at him saying, "Crucio!"
Harry felt pain beyond anything he had ever felt before, though he had been hit with this curse by the memory of Voldemort before, it was nothing compared to the real Dark Lord's curse. He felt as if his bones were on fire, his head was splitting open along his scar and his eyes were rolling madly in his head and he prayed for it to be over … for him to black out … to die … anything that would make the pain stop. And then it was gone, and Voldemort was back looking at his Death Eaters, laughing at his torture of a boy tied to a gravestone.
"You see, I think, how foolish it was to suppose that this boy could ever have been stronger than me," Voldemort said then with his mirthless laugh. "But I want there to be no mistake in anybody's mind. Harry Potter escaped me by a lucky chance. And I am now going to prove my power by killing him, here and now, in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help him, and no mother to die for him. I will give him his chance. He will be allowed to fight, and you will be left in no doubt which of us is the stronger. Just a little longer, Nagini," he whispered, and the snake glided away through the grass to where the Death Eaters stood watching. "Now untie him, Wormtail, and give him back his wand."
Harry was filled with shock as he actually felt himself be released from his bonds and a wand was shoved into his hand. He had been expected to be killed without even being able to defend himself … but he couldn't feel much hope even now that he had his wand. He was surrounded by Death Eaters after all, and Voldemort was standing in front on him with a cold smirk on his face.
"You have been taught how to duel Harry Potter?" Voldemort asked, tauntingly.
Harry remembered the time Lockhart and Snape had a dueling club and he had learned the Disarming Spell, but it didn't seem like that would be much help right now.
"We bow to each other, Harry," Voldemort said still taunting and he smiled his humorless smile. "Come, the niceties must be observed … Dumbledore would like you to show manners … Bow to death Harry …"
Harry felt a sense of determination fill him as he thought that he wouldn't go along with the game that Voldemort wanted to play … he wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.
"I said, bow," Voldemort hissed, his wand moved and Harry felt his spine curve without his permission as he listened to the laughter of the Death Eaters. It only lasted a moment and then Voldemort raised his wand and he was released. "Very good. And now you face me like a man … straight-backed and proud, the way your mother died … And now we duel."
Harry didn't have time to think before he was again hit by the Cruciatus curse and he was under intense pain … wishing for it to end as he screamed.
"A little break," Voldemort said smiling, taunting Harry again.
Fear filled Harry as he lie on the ground knowing that Voldemort was going to kill him and there was nothing he could do. However, as Voldemort smiled at him, he realized that the other man wasn't done playing with him … yet he was going to have to endure more torture.
"Stu …" Harry had tried to say but before he could even get the words out he felt as if all the air had been knocked out of him and he gasped trying to breath.
"Is that any way to thank me for giving you a break," Voldemort sighed in a mock disappointed voice. "It would seem you want another reminder of the pain … or am I wrong Harry … would you like me to take mercy on you, Harry?"
Harry couldn't say a word as he still was having trouble trying to breathe but his eyes showed quiet clearly that he wasn't about to beg Voldemort for anything.
Still Voldemort was toying with him; "I asked you whether you want me to do that again," he said softly, before he raised his tone and yelled, "Answer me! Imperio!"
Harry felt the pleasing sensation as his mind went blank and he felt no pain as he floated as if in a dream. A voice in his head was whispering just answer no … say no … just answer no …
He could feel his lips moving to form those words when another part of him screamed for him to stop. I will not! I will not answer him!
Just answer no, the other voice whispered in his ears, its voice weaker than it had been before and this time when he shouted his mouth moved in real life too. "I WON'T!"
"You won't?" Voldemort said his eyes were somehow colder than they had been before and the Death Eaters weren't laughing. Harry could tell that Voldemort was done playing with him. Whether that was because he was over the game or because Harry broke through his Imperius Curse but in the end it didn't matter. All that matter was that the next curse that Voldemort was going to use was going to be the killing curse.
Knowing this, Harry felt his body react before he even had to think about it and he rolled behind a grave marker as a curse sailed over his head.
"We are not playing hide-n-seek, Harry," Voldemort said.
"Sorry, is that not the game you wanted to play," Harry shouted back, he didn't feel like getting mocked anymore … not when he was trying to fight. Sure. all he did was dodge, but he had no idea what else he could do. Voldemort was so much stronger than him and he was surrounded by Death Eaters … he had a fleeting thought that he could transform into his wolf form and make a run for it, but he was sure that he couldn't get away right now … the circle around him was too tight.
That left him with one option, and though it wasn't a good one it was the only one left to him. Because he wasn't going to die hiding … he was going to fight with everything he had left.
He took a deep breath and moved out of from behind the gravestone as he yelled, "Expelliarmus!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
Voldemort had cried at the same time and the green jet from his wand met the red jet from Harry's in the middle. Instead of reflecting each other, the curse met in midair and suddenly Harry's wand started vibrating with an electric charge. The red and green lights seemed to blend together and turned a bright golden color.
It became hard for Harry to hold the wand but he instinctively knew that he shouldn't let go of it and was encouraged further by the look on Voldemort's face. He was just as confused as Harry was about what was going on, but Harry was trying not to show his fear as they were suddenly lifted off the ground. They were then moved away from the grave of Tom Riddle to an area free of graves as the Death Eaters tried to run after them asking Voldemort for instructions. If that wasn't enough, the golden thread connecting Harry and Voldemort started to splitter and they were then in-caged in it.
"Do nothing!" Voldemort shouted to the circling Death Eater and Harry noted that if he somehow broke this connection he would have more of a chance to be able to run away.
At that thought he felt his hand shake worse than ever and he had to hold on tighter to make sure that the connection wasn't broken … not yet. He heard it then, an unearthly and beautiful sound fill the air and it seemed to be coming from the light. Harry's heart beat as he recognized the sound and it had filled him with a sense of hope like it had the only other time he had heard this sound … phoenix song.
The beam between Harry and Voldemort started to change then and as if something was starting to inch towards him and he knew that he couldn't allow this light to connect with his wand … that he would have to force it to move the other way. With all of the determination that he had, he focused his energy on pushing the light away from him, the phoenix song in his ear encouraging him even further. He saw Voldemort's face turn suddenly to astonishment as this happened and then there was an almost fearful look … but that was nothing to what happened when the beam of light connected with Voldemort's wand.
There was an echo of a scream of pain as the light connected with Voldemort's wand and then an image of smoky hand flew out of it … then more screams came from the wand and then a dense shadow of a head, quickly followed by arms and torso … an old man Harry had seen only in a dream was now pushing himself out of the end of the wand and Harry nearly dropped his own wand in shock at the sight of him but was just barely able to hold it.
Voldemort looked terrified at what he was seeing; just as surprised as Harry was about what was happening. He also seemed unable to break the connection between them. Harry could hear the Death Eaters move restlessly behind him but his attention was on the wand more than ever, waiting with baited breath for what was going to be coming out next.
"He was a real wizard, then?" the smoky figured of the old man said, his eyes still on Voldemort though he was floating towards Harry. "Killed me, that one did … You fight him, boy …"
Even as he said this another head was coming out of Voldemort's wand and then Harry was faced with the shadowy figure of Bertha Jorkins.
"Don't let go, now!" she cried, "Don't let him get you Harry – don't let go!"
The two figures that had come out of Voldemort's wand continued to say encouragements to him as they hissed at Voldemort, who seemed to be in shock about what was going on.
Harry wasn't paying attention to them, however, because he was sure what was going to happen next, as if he had been waiting for this moment since he had first saw the hand come out of the wand. As the head and torso came out he found himself staring into the eyes of his mother.
His heart pounded as he was face to face with a near life image of his mother as she came floating out towards him, a sad smile on her face as she took in the sight of him and it looked as if she would have tried to embraced him if she could have. Instead she walked close to Harry, and talked in a distant, echoing voice, like the others had used, and yet it was more than he had ever remembered hearing from her before.
"You're going to have to break the connection soon," she said, "when it is broken, we will only linger for a moment, but we will give you the time you need. Returned to the Portkey … use it to get back to Hogwarts … do you understand, Harry?"
"Yes," Harry gasped as he realized what she was saying … he had suspected that the portkey might have been a two way one but he didn't have the time to act before he had been taken.
"I'm so proud of you Harry," his mom said, her hand reaching out to him before moving it away.
"NOW!" Harry new it was time, and he raised his wand, immediately breaking the connection with Voldemort and then he turned to run. In mid stride, Harry concentrated on his wolf form and without missing a beat he was suddenly running on all fours moving faster than he ever could as a boy.
"Get him!" Voldemort shouted. "Don't let him get away!"
Harry could feel the Death Eaters running after him but they weren't as fast as him. Nor did it seem easy for them to hit the tiny wolf he was now, as he darted through the gravestones. He followed the scent of the Death Eaters, tracing back the path that they ran when Voldemort and he had moved to the open area. When he got to Tom Riddles' grave he realized that he had to turn back to himself because he didn't know where the cup was.
"There he is!" he heard the shout of a Death Eater and Harry sent a stunning charm behind him as he scanned the area for the cup, trying to remember when he had seen it … panic mounting in him … where the hell was the cup?! He could hear more Death Eaters coming …. And then it came to him …
"Accio Triwizard Cup!" he shouted and his hand reached out for it as it zoomed into his grasp.
A/N: I know that this chapter happened a lot like it had in the original book. That was because most of what happened was outside of Harry's control and had more to do with Voldemort. This was why I had decided to do these three chapters in the book together as one big chapter because not a lot of things changed, especially the middle when Voldemort makes his speech. I copied it almost word for word, only changing the few comments about Wormtail since that was different.