~Chapter 35~ The Ritual – Timeskip to 26 September 1996

Notes: Watch out, cliffie ahead, so sorry but I needed to end this chapter here tonight. Will start working on the next one tomorrow. Only about 2 chapters left to go, unless the characters decide to run away with the story again.

~Voldemort~

He woke with a strange feeling of excitement just as the darkness in the room gave way to a dim light that heralded the day. It had been a busy few months trying to set everything up for the ritual and to put the last few laws in place to ensure that all creatures had equal rights.

At first, people feared that the races would rebel due to their newfound freedom, and a few attacks did occur, but they were dealt with swiftly, yet equally, and everything died down once the general population discovered the benefits of having different races with different abilities within their workplace and as friends and family members within their homes.

Not everything always went according to plan, however, as some of the darker races that had been sent away due to their so-called 'afflications' couldn't help but resent their families for not loving them enough to keep them.

Once everything died down and the families paid the compensation owed to them, the darker races decided to come together to form a society of their own. The town/small city was situated a few kilometers away from Hogsmeade, although it took the same amount of time to reach it from the school as it took to reach Hogsmeade, due to the centaurs and other creatures offering safe passage through the forbidden forest.

Voldemort reached his arm to the side but frowned when he only felt the coldness of an empty bed next to him. He sat up and glanced around the room, but the link immediately informed him that Harry wasn't in the room, in fact, he was in an area they barely visited.

For a moment his heart lurched as he realized that Harry was in the room where Dumbledore was being held. Did the old man manage to escape or somehow control him?

An amused scoff echoed through his mind and he gave a sigh of relief as Harry's voice echoed across the link, "How do you expect him to be able to control me from his trapped state if I can throw off even your Imperius?"

Voldemort shook his head at the question even though Harry couldn't currently see him, "You know I cannot help that my first reaction is to worry about you when I do not have you in my sights."

He felt Harry's frustration echo through their link and a part of him almost felt guilty, almost, "It's been more than a year already and you've dealt with everything from the merest whisper of an uprising to a small rebellion. I stayed calm and allowed you to keep me here because I could feel how it affected you when I almost died, but you cannot keep me locked away forever."

Neither of them wanted to back down and a tense moment hung in the air before Voldemort grimaced, but then his face softened and he allowed a slight laugh to escape him and it echoed back from Harry's side as they both thought of the day Voldemort realized that Harry was his Horcrux, "You are right, I promised that I wouldn't keep you locked away, and I wouldn't want you going Ghost on me again."

Harry laughed again and mentally shoved him lightly before Voldemort finally reached the room he had been standing in. He walked up to Harry and pulled the younger man into his arms, completely ignoring the floating figure in the middle of the room, "But that doesn't mean that I can be less possessive of you. You are mine to protect, no matter what happens tonight."

Harry tensed slightly in his arms, "What if it doesn't work? What if we lose each other or we end up back where we started? I don't think I'd be able to raise my wand against you…"

His words were cut off by the fierce scowl that crossed Voldemort's face at his words, "You will if you have to", his expression softened slightly, "just keep yourself safe. I won't allow myself to fall back into the madness again if I can help it and if something like that were to occur, well, I have made plans to ensure that I didn't."

It was obvious that Harry didn't like the idea, but he sensed that Voldemort wasn't about to reveal anything else. They slowly turned toward Dumbledore, but Voldemort kept his attention on Harry, "Do you want him to be aware when it happens?"

Harry frowned, "I don't know. Half of me believes that he needs to experience the pain, but the other half just wants him gone and out of our lives. Even when I know that he is experiencing every death he had a hand in, he is still alive and still a threat. If he is still trapped, then he wouldn't be able to get away."

Voldemort tilted his head slightly as he regarded his mate. He couldn't argue because he felt the same. Even incapacitated Dumbledore was still a loose end, and he really didn't like loose ends, "Then that is how it shall be."

He lightly took Harry's hand and led him out of the room. The blood moon would happen between the two days, so they had a little time, but they still had a lot to prepare for the night.

It was decided that only the two of them would be performing the ritual, just in case something went wrong. Not that Harry's friends and the Death Eaters had been happy with that decision, but they couldn't do anything about it either. Salazar, Sirius, and Severus had calmed them down by promising to stay close to Harry and Voldemort during the ritual, just in case something went wrong, seeing as they were as immortal as Salazar was.

Voldemort could see that alone set Harry at ease quite a bit, and for a moment he wanted to ask whether Harry really wanted to go through with the ritual. But then he remembered how distraught Harry had been at Death's news, and it firmed his resolve.

They spent the morning lounging around a bit, simply enjoying each other's company, and then made their way to the ritual site.

~Harry~

He tried to ignore both the excitement and the apprehension that bubbled up inside him as they floated Dumbledore's orb to the middle of the ritual circle. It really was a pity that the man wouldn't die in excruciating pain, or he simply might not be aware of the pain, as the ritual drained his soul to feed it, but even he couldn't deny that Dumbledore was as cunning as a fox when his life was on the line.

A flash of fire appeared and Harry nodded at Merlin, who had previously been known as Fawkes. He could understand why the phoenix wanted to view the end of the man that had controlled him. In fact, he could see the shadows of many dark creatures that had somehow managed to find out about the ritual.

He had already warned them of the dangers and yet they turned up anyway. Most simply thought it was a ritual to bring about the end of Albus Dumbledore, and Harry was happy to keep it that way. Luna already told him that he would only be able to bring back the essences of a few individuals, so the ritual wouldn't have an impact outside those that he chose.

He felt Voldemort's hand reach for his and he clutched his mate's hand tightly in his own, allowing himself to lean against the other man for a brief moment before they let go and moved to stand on opposite ends of the circle.

They closed their eyes and started chanting in sync, unaware of the shadows that slowly crept towards them. Death appeared in a visible form at the third part of the circle and gasps echoed through the air as the dark creatures saw him. Harry sensed Voldemort's smugness at the sense of awe that could be felt in the air. The man really loved causing suspense.

Most of them probably thought that Voldemort was now the Master of Death, but they were soon proven wrong as Harry felt his cloak creeping up and onto his shoulders. The ring on his finger seemed to pulse and he sensed it as the elder wand came to hover in front of him, eager to share its power.

A part of him felt childishly smug because of their surprise and he felt Voldemort's amusement before the man mentally nudged him to focus. He turned his attention back to chanting and this time he realized that the shadows had gotten much heavier.

He heard Death's voice as the entity joined in, and soon the pressure almost became too much to bear. The audience they had started with, scattered one by one as they realized that their bodies couldn't take the strain, but Harry and Voldemort held on.

Harry felt Voldemort's power, which wrapped around him to try and lighten the burden, but it didn't last long and he allowed his golden wings to emerge from his back. The Golden Dragon race only had wings in their half-dragon, half-human form, but never in their full form. The wings allowed them to fly in their human form, as they couldn't float as they did in their full-dragon form.

The wings brought forth gasps of wonder and shock from those that lingered and he could almost feel the greed that came with it. As soon as it started though, it stopped and he felt Voldemort's power wash over him. He fought to keep his eyes closed as he physically had to stop himself from turning them towards Voldemort in shock as a widespread, yet targeted, obliviate and compulsion spread through the area.

Only three people were shielded from the spells and Harry felt Salazar, Severus and Sirius subtly feed their power into the obliviate and the compulsion to protect him from any ill intentions. The strength of the burden of the ritual increased until even his Godfathers had to move away and only the four of them, Death, Voldemort, himself, and Dumbledore, were left.

Finally, the pressure imploded and Harry opened his eyes as he was met with a feeling of nothingness. For a moment he panicked, thinking that something went horribly wrong, but he still felt Voldemort's reassuring presence in his mind and Death's presence a moment later.

He couldn't see them though and Death subtly entered his mind, "You are the one with the closest connection to your friends, and so the ritual sent you to bring them back. Do not worry, we will be here to pull you back."

Harry calmed himself and he felt a nudge from Voldemort before he moved forward. An entire galaxy of stars floated around him and he stared at it in amazement, but a silverish star glided into his hand and for a moment he felt a familiar connection.

He gently grabbed hold of it and his eyes widened as he realized that it hadn't been his imagination, the star felt like Draco!

He turned slowly and threw out his senses, using his magic to slowly locate and call the individuals that he came to save. He felt sad for those he couldn't save, but Death had advised him that they wouldn't survive because his connection to them wasn't strong enough.

Finally, only one soul was left and he frowned when he realized that this one, in particular, was purposefully evading him.

He allowed the souls he already had, to float to the doorway that had formed behind him and they slowly disappeared one by one. The souls that had no connection to him vanished, and finally he was left with only a faded soul that looked like it had once been bright crimson.

He didn't dare speak, but then again, it wasn't needed. Even as enemies they had been connected at a different level and he could feel the soul's shock at the bonds that it could possibly see. He sensed the unspoken question and nodded, but for a moment they merely hovered where they were.

The soul seemed hesitant as if it both wanted to go back to where it had been and to where Harry wanted to lead it. Harry let out a sad sigh, ":: All of it happened because of Dumbledore, we never should have been the ones fighting against each other.::"

It seemed to be the words that the soul needed as it finally floated over and into his waiting hand. The moment they touched it became bright crimson once more and a flash of light forced Harry to cover his eyes with his other hand.

He blinked them open moments later to find Tom Riddle, as he'd been in the diary, standing in front of him before he disappeared and his soul followed the others out through the strange door. He wondered why the man now looked like his first Horcrux and this time it was Voldemort that answered his question, "It is because it was his-our strongest Horcrux as it carried half of our soul. Making it the ruling piece once all the Horcruxes gathered once more. Maybe that means that he wouldn't be-"

Harry frowned as Voldemort's voice cut off, "Voldemort? Is everything ok there?"

An empty link was the only answer he received and he abruptly turned around to follow the souls through the door. A thousand scenarios ran through his mind. Surely it simply meant that Voldemort was readjusting to the new memories?

He made it through the door and back to the ritual circle but the moment he stepped through it he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and he looked down in shock to find a sword piercing through his stomach. It wasn't just any sword though, it was the sword of Gryffindor.