Chapter 9

Voldemort's Lair

James opened his eyes and groaned. His head ached. He went to move his hands to his head, but found his hands were tied behind his back. He looked around. He could tell by the little light coming from the fireplace he was in a small room with serpents carved into the walls. He also noticed there was no door in the room, at least, none that he could see. He looked to his left and saw Harry tied up next to him. He was rather surprised to see Sirius and Ron on the other side of Harry as well. On his right side, he saw Hermione, Lily, and Ginny.

"Harry?" James asked. Harry looked at him. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," Harry replied.

James looked at Sirius and asked, "How did you get here? You weren't with Harry and me when we were taken."

Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly, four figures appeared from the shadows in the corner. The tallest of the four stood in front of Harry as the others stood behind him.

"It does not matter how they got here. It just matters that they are here," the tallest one spoke. He had a cruel, cold voice. When he spoke, you could feel the smirk playing across his face, even though a dark hood covered it. "Harry James Potter, we meet again. I see you have met your father. Is he everything you imagined? You are probably wondering why he is in the future in the first place. That is my doing. My younger self knew of a prophecy, a different prophecy that described a family that was filled with extremely powerful wizards. In the prophecy, it was said that the last of this family would be the one to defeat the darkest wizard of all time. Now of course, it might not have meant me, but just in case, I went searching for such a family and I finally found it. It was the Potters. I had suspected that James would be the one to destroy me and that is why I sent him away."

"But you were wrong. You seem to do the wrong things a lot," Harry said.

"As do you. Should I mention a certain event that took place in the Department of Mysteries?" Harry glared at Voldemort, but remained silent. "Now, my younger self also hadn't heard of another prophecy that was made shortly after James Potter returned. A prophecy that was more specific about which Potter would be the last Potter. It described a boy who would be born of parents who had defied me three times and would be born at the end of the seventh month. There were two boys that fit that description, but I knew which it was. It was the Potter child that I needed to kill. After that failure, I hunted Harry down for years and at the same time, trying to give myself a body again. Thanks to my loyal Death Eater, Wormtail, I succeeded."

"What!" Sirius and James cried together. "Peter? He's a Death Eater? What do you mean?" James demanded.

"Oh yes, he is. And as a matter of fact, he's right here," Voldemort pulled one of the men that was standing behind him forward. He was short, plump, and at the end of his right arm, there was a silver hand.

"YOU JOINED VOLDEMORT! HOW COULD YOU? HE KILLED MY PARENTS! HE KILLS LILY! HE KILLS ME!" James shouted at Wormtail. The Death Eater started to tremble as James continued screaming at the rat like man who used to be one of his best friends.

"Now, now, James. I think you should calm down now," Voldemort sneered. "Last time you got angry around me you died. Now, who shall I kill first? James Potter? It would be much fun to murder you again. It would also be intriuging to see what happens to Harry. Or maybe the beautiful Ginny Weasley. That would certainly do something to Harry as well, wouldn't it? Who shall die first? It would be prudent to kill Harry first. After all, if he escapes, we will have to hunt him down again and it is of the utmost importance that we do not allow him to live."

As Voldemort had done his monologue about who should be killed first, James had noticed Harry trying to untie his bonds. When he finally succeeded, he kept his hands behind his back and closed his eyes. Suddenly, a stick flew from Lucius' pocket in his robes and landed in Harry's now outstretched hand.

"Let us go, now!" Harry commanded, taking the four hooded figures by surprise. Voldemort raised his wand as well.

"You can't duel with me, Voldemort. Our wands are brothers."

"Who said anything about dueling with you? I am going to end this now! You're parent's sacrifice didn't last for long! After you are gone, I shall become invincible! Avada—"

"Master?" a timid voice spoke, stopping Voldemort from completing the Killing Curse.

"Crucio!" Voldemort screamed as he turned around, his wand pointed at Wormtail. He screamed out in pain as he withered on the ground, his limbs twitching.

"HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT ME! I AM ABOUT TO END THE LIFE OF THE ONLY BEING ON EARTH WHO CAN DESTROY ME!"

"Master, please!" he cried.

Voldemort stopped.

"Master, please, d-don't kill the b-boy. You—"

"WHAT? YOU WANT ME TO ALLOW HIM TO LIVE? YOU WANT ME TO DIE?"

"No, m-master. Maybe, instead, he-he could j-join you." Wormtail hid his face behind his arms to shield himself from Voldemort's wrath.

"YOU IDIOT! HE WILL NEVER JOIN ME!" Voldemort advanced on Wormtail, but then stopped. "Unless…" He glanced sideways at Harry and started laughing once again. He pointed his wand at Harry and said, "Expelliarmus!" Harry's wand flew out of his hand. He tried to catch it, but failed. His wand was now in Voldemort's hand. "Lucius, tie him up and bring him with you. Bellatrix, get Ginny Weasley." With a wave of his hand, a door appeared and Voldemort walked through it, followed by Wormtail.