Chapter 70

)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(

With the breakfast finished for the day of the Third Trial, the Great Hall was emptied quickly. Rebekah was left to finish off her breakfast as her group left for the Library. She unhooked one of her current books from the bracelet, propping it against a glass to read as she ate the last piece of her toast.

"I suspect that your family will not be in attendance?" Snape said, standing on the other side of the table.

"No, sir," Rebekah said, keeping her eyes on the book. "Aunt Petunia wouldn't be caught dead near Hogwarts."

"And Black?"

"He wrote that he did not have time, owing to the fact that he's been gone for almost thirteen years, there's a lot to fix and bring up to date." She flicked the page over with the wave of the finger. Snape cleared his throat. When she didn't look up, her book closed with a sharp snap! "Hey!"

"Breakfast is over, let's go," Snape said, snapping his robes which infuriated Rebekah for a second. He turned and sashayed down the hall, expecting Rebekah to follow him. She didn't, wanting to stay in her seat and finish her book. Snape sighed with a frown. "Black, get your GodDaughter!"

Rebekah's head shot up. Sirius was here? Since when? He said he couldn't, did he lie?

She looked to the doors of the Great Hall, and leapt from her seat, vaulting over the table and going straight into a sprint. It took her less than five seconds to get to the doors, hurling herself into the air as she shifted into her Animagus form and tackled Sirius into the ground as he shifted too.

They were ushered into the chamber to the side. Both Animagi circled each other, bumping heads and snouts every so often. They received strange looks as they shifted back in front of the rest of the Champions and their families. Young Gabrielle waved to her, Rebekah smiled fondly and nodded softly.

"What the hell, Sirius?" She jabbed him in the arm before she threw herself into his embrace again. "You said you couldn't come!"

"Change of plans, cub," Sirius smirked as Rebekah sulked for a moment. "I've put the meetings off until after this tournament. You're stuck with me, Rebekah."

Rebekah huffed fondly. "Fine with me!"

Rebekah and Sirius spent the morning in the Forbidden Forest, which the latter completely enjoyed playing with Tercet as Rebekah sat with Tatia against the tree trunks. It was nice to see the Grim Animagus try and topple a HellHound.

They came back in time for lunch. Sirius and Draco had a staring contest the moment they met, blankly looking at each other as Rebekah stood between them.

"Malfoy."

"Black."

Rebekah stuffed a potato into each of their mouths before sitting herself between them. "Both of you, not today. Maybe another day, but perhaps not on the day which I could possibly die on? Kay? How was the history exam?"

"Remind me to be nicer to the Goblins from now on," Theodore grumbled as he yawned and sat down at the table. "I don't want to deal with another whoever the un whatever. It was awful but the names and dates were easy."

The rest of the day was spent running up and down the castle. Even if Sirius was in his thirties, he still had the agility of a teenager. They ran under people's legs in their Animagus, resulting in McGonagall yelling at them to stop which they pouted at. After that, Sirius showed her how to get into the kitchen.

"Tickle the pear," He said and did so, making it giggle and turn into a doorknob. They raided some of the sweeter snacks, after asking permission from the Head HouseElf named Liffer.

That evening, Dumbledore began smiling as soon as the feast was put away. "Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr Bagman down to the stadium now."

A sudden wave of shivers went over Rebekah's shoulders but she shook them off. Rebekah stood curtly, Sirius' hand clenched over her shoulder for a moment. She sent him a calm smile and a wink, strutting off to join the older Champions.

Bagman had quickly caught up with Rebekah as the group of Champions walked down the stone steps onto the grounds. "Feeling alright, Rebekah? Happy? Confident?"

Rebekah nodded, her hands in her hair as she pulled the dark locks into a high ponytail.

She had already changed into her Champion gear just like the other three. Black sweatshirt lined with her House colour and name on the back. The joggers matched the top with the two emerald lines going down the sides. Black boots were shined to perfection and fitted well with her wand stored in the inner side of her left boot.

As before, all of her jewelry was removed and now Emperor wore it. Rebekah only kept the Basilisk earrings.

Inside of the low rising hedges, the Quidditch field was completely unrecognizable with twenty foot hedges running the edge of it. With a small gap at the front, it was otherwise unreachable. Even with the bright and clear skies above them, Rebekah just knew the inside of the maze was going to be dark and creepy. The sky was beginning to darken as the evening began.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each - Mr Cedric Diggory and Miss Rebekah Potter, both of Hogwarts School!" Bagman paused for the applause that made several dozen birds fly away from the maze. "In second place, with eighty points - Mr Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute! And in third place – Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!"

"On my whistle, Cedric, Rebekah," Bagman said, gaining their attention. "Three. Two. One!"

As soon as they were in the maze, it was dark. Rebekah couldn't see clearly and she hated it.

"Noctis Oculi," Rebekah mumbled, her eyes Magically adjusting to the dark. She could see just like she would be able to during the day, perfectly and without interference. She noticed that Cedric saw her spell. "Night vision."

"Where'd you learn that?" Cedric asked next to her.

"Few years of walking in the dark of the castle motivates you to find new spells," Rebekah mumbled. "Just swish your wand to your face and say Noctis Oculi, night eyes." They came to a fork in the path. Rebekah saluted mockingly, "See ya!" before hurrying down one path.

She shifted and found that the spell stayed in place, letting her vision stay just as clear.

Rebekah refused to allow Fleur's terrified scream stifle her pursuit through the maze. She reached several deadends but never the same one more than once. Creating a visual of the maze in her mind was becoming useful, she knew exactly where she had gone but not where she hadn't.

Being in her Animagus form was not brilliant when you had to go against a Boggart, resulting in Rebekah physically attacking the figure of Death with teeth and claws as she had to silently and wandlessly banish the Boggart.

Then came the Sphinx.

"First think of the person who lives in disguise,

Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.

Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,

The middle of middle and end of the end?

And finally give me the sound often heard

During the search for a hard-to-find word.

Now string them together, and answer me this,

Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

Rebekah asked for it to be repeated twice more, taking a moment to think over each bit of the riddle before speaking in her human form. "Spider."

The Sphinx grinned, stretching her front legs before moving aside. Rebekah said her thanks before sprinting forward with her wand in hand. With several choices to each side of the walls, Rebekah kept to the middle one and ran forward just as her wand told her. When the path forked into three, Rebekah asked her wand to point the way and she dashed down the right hand one.

She smiled softly as she caught sight of the beautiful TwiWizard Cup only a hundred yards away, but her smile dropped when she saw Cedric's dark shadow begin to sprint towards the cup. In her human form, Rebekah knew she couldn't keep up with his sharp paces so she changed forms.

Then she almost gagged when a huge spider came over one of the ledges and right into Cedric. She was tempted to go for the cup straight away, but if she helped Cedric, it meant that he would be in her debt, or at least owe her something.

Gods, she hated spiders but she still pushed her fear down and launched herself at it, clawing out its eyes.

Cedric's Stupefy! had little effect on the spider, making Rebekah shift back and reach for her wand. Silently, Rebekah slashed her wand several times, creating and weaving a huge net that would force the spider to remain against the hedge wall. It was already blind so it couldn't do much.

Without pause for manners, Rebekah launched herself into a sprint to the cup. Before she even touched it, Rebekah faintly heard, "Well done, Rebekah." Before seeing a sparkle of red lights way above him.

Something pulled at her navel and Rebekah gritted her teeth.

)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(

It was a fucking Portkey!

Her knees bent as she landed alone with it in her grip.

She was no longer on Hogwarts grounds. Even the mountains that surrounded the school were nowhere to be seen. The graveyard was very overgrown, if Aunt Petunia had seen it, she would have fainted.

Getting to her feet, Rebekah was careful to keep her wand in hand, be it her left or right after dropping the portkey. She was paranoid, she knew she was being watched and it made her instincts go haywire.

This place gave her a nagging feeling at the back of her mind. She knew this place. It was familiar and she didn't like how familiar it felt.

Rebekah was stuck in an iron cage.

The five by five feet enclosure allowed her to space and claw at the gaps between the iron but it kept her contained. She snapped, clawed, growled, roared but the rods kept her stuck in there, and her wand was in the other man's grip.

Wormtail.

She wanted to rip him apart but the cage stopped her doing this.

Nagini snapped at her through the cage's bars, hissing deeply, "Animal. Fake."

"I will make you into a snake kabab!" Rebekah hissed back but it felt wrong on her feline tongue, though Nagini understood the same. "Back away, serpent."

With another way round the cage, Nagini then slid away after hissing again, though this time there was no meaning. Wormtail stepped around the cage and to the grave behind her.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given," He said as he took a long bone she suspected to be a femur before dropping it into the caldron. "You will renew your son."

The surface of the water turned vivid blue, hissing and sending sparks into the air.

"Flesh of the servant w—" He paused as he took a breath to calm himself. "Willingly given you will re-revive your master."

Wormtail stretched the hand with the missing finger, gripping a dapper with his trembling left hand before swinging down upon the wrist with a heart wrenching scream. The whole hand dropped into the caldron and turned it a shade too close to fresh blood.

She roared as soon as he stepped closer to the cage, using his wand to slice a long cut across her face. It went from her right eyebrow and down to her jaw, sicing right down her furred cheek. She whinied before snapping as he came closer for only a moment.

Wormtail continued to pant and almost sob as he took her blood and allowed the few drops to hit the surface. "Blood of the enemy forcibly taken… you will resurrect your foe."

The liquid turned to a blinding white that it made everything else turn into plain shadows. With a sudden exposure of mist into the air, Rebekah collapsed onto the ground with a sudden scream forced out of her throat. She had to shift, the pain in her shoulder and neck too much to bear and keep in her Animagus form. She grunted and forced the scream down, slamming her hands against the ground as she bit her lip so much it bled.

When the pain started to diminish, she was able to sit back on her legs and lean on her trembling arms. She watched the ground, pain still making her left arm and shoulder spasm.

"Robe me."

That voice.

Rebekah snapped her head up before forcing herself to sit up properly. The cage didn't allow her to stand, it was barely four feet tall, and it just barely touched her ponytail when she sat cross legged.

Voldemort stepped out of the caldron before he suddenly summoned his Death Eaters.

Robes and cloaks of the darkest black appeared all around the graveyard, every single one hooded and masked. They slowly moved forward, unable to believe what they could see before them until one of them launched himself at Voldemort's feet. Then all of the Death Eaters kneeled before drawing back to stand in a circle with gaps between the ranks.

Rebekah just sat in the cage, a sudden rage of shivers going down her spine before she stretched and cracked her neck. This brought Voldemort's attention to her.

"Sitting like the animal she is, we have Rebekah Potter in the cage," Voldemort sneered as he brought a hand to lay it on the top of the cage. "It is nothing more than she deserves."

"Just like how you should be six feet under me in teeny, tiny pieces after I would rip you to shreds," Rebekah smiled as Voldemort's face suddenly came into her view. She had the sudden desire to spit into his face but that would make him even angrier so she settled for shifting her face and hands before jumping forward in the cage. The bars stopped her and she settled back as she watched Voldemort flinch with slight fear before it turned into fascination.

"Only if you were to join me, girl," Voldemort turned back to his Death Eaters. "You all have answered as if it were only yesterday we met last. We are still united under the Dark Mark, then, are we?

"I smell guilt," He said. "There is a stench or guilt upon the air. 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?"

Rebekah groaned silently into her hands. What was it and him having to continuously speak?

"Then I answer 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 could 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 proof of the immensity of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living? And I answer myself—"

"You were dead!" Rebekah screamed, her eyes now burrowing into Voldemort's. Her lips curled into a sneer and her eyes narrowed in anger. "You were dead and your body was missing. Did you really think that they would think you better than Death? No one can escape Death, regardless of your power. They thought you dead because it was the only explanation, so shut u—"

Rebekah felt her left shoulder jerk in pain, now the arm was dislocated when she touched it. She only grunted.

"Do be quiet, girl. I wasn't speaking to filth."

"Oh, I thought you were because you were speaking to yourself," And with that remark, her right thigh screamed in pain as three long cuts were forced into the skin. Voldemort did all of this silently and with simply swishes of his wand. With another, Rebekah wasn't able to hear anything they said but she tried to read lips.

It was a good few minutes before she could hear Voldemort again. So in that time, she tried to fix her shoulder but found it difficult but very much possible. After actually getting her arm back into its socket, it was extremely sore and painful to move. The three cuts on her thigh had cut through her trousers and stained the green line a shade of bloody red. If she didn't get that healed within the next few hours, she would get an infection or die of blood loss.

Her head jerked up when she could hear him again

"You see, I'm quite surprised how much faith they put into a little girl worth nothing more than dirty. It is unbelievable how foolish it was to think that this girl could ever have been stronger than me," Voldemort said quietly as he observed Rebekah's angry eyes. "But I want there to be no mistake in anybody's mind. Rebekah Potter escaped me by a lucky chance. And I am now going to prove my power by killing her in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help her, and no mother to die for her. I will give her a chance. She will be allowed to fight, and you will be left in no doubt which of us is the stronger. Just a little longer, Nagini. Now uncage her, Wormtail, and give her back her wand."

The cage around her dropped into the ground and disappeared. Rebekah stood up easily, even with her sore thigh and shoulder, and waited for Wormtail to walk forward. Her fist connected with Wormtail's face without a moment's hesitation. His nose crunched satisfyingly as he landed on his behind before her. Rebekah flicked her wrist, getting the blood off of her knuckles before summoning her wand which he dropped again.

"Don't go near me, you pathetic excuse for a Wizard," Rebekah snarled, carefully taking in the condition of her wand. "And never touch my wand unless you want me to hit you again. I should have killed you the moment I had the chance a year ago. I should have ripped you apart but Sirius needed my help. You are not worth my time or any one else's."

"Such aggression, so Muggle." Voldemort spat.

"You're one to talk, Tommy," Rebekah grinned as Voldemort gasped in anger before sending a stunning spell which she shielded. "Really? A stunning spell? I would think that a Half—"

Rebekah grunted as he sent the torture curse through her. She collapsed onto her knees as she let out a savage scream. The cut on her face stung as she scrunched her face up, making it bleed more.

She could taste blood.

She gathered up enough strength to flick her wrist downwards. "Protego Maxima!"

The pain stopped instantly but the residual aching was horrible. She groaned as she stood from her knees and heard the Death Eaters gasp as she swore at their leader. "Really? You absolute bastard!"

"Enough," Voldemort said, almost dismissing her anger. "You have been taught how to duel, have you not?"

"Somewhat," Rebekah nodded, already knowing where this was going.

"We bow to each other," Voldemort began to bend at the waist as he turned his snakelike face at her. "Come, the niceties must be observed… Dumbledore would like you to show manners… Bow to death, Rebekah…

"I said, bow," Voldemort snarled when she didn't, raising his wand towards her. There was a nagging voice in the back of her mind.

You know you want to bow.

Come on, you would love to.

Bow.

Bow.

Bow!

But Rebekah's back stayed straight as she glared at him. She would not bow to him. If they were on equal terms, perhaps she would entertain him with a proper duel but this wasn't equal.

"I'll bow to Death when they come for me," Rebekah dipped her head an inch, mimicking what Snape had done to Lockhart years ago, before raising her wand hand.

The red light that Voldemort sent out gave Rebekah enough time to jump out of the way, twirling to the side as she sent several stunning spells to his knees. There was a brief moment of pain when the spell had hit her before she had gotten out of the way, leaving her only gasping for a moment. With a slash of her wand and a mumble, Rebekah grinned as a thin cut lined Voldemort's chin and jaw.

Payback.

They both paused for a moment.

"Dumbledore taught me shit. Everything I've learnt has come from books and experience. That little Basilisk in the Chamber?" Rebekah smiled as she saw Voldemort become intrigued yet angry at her words. "It's dead. I've got earrings to prove it."

She tilted her head before feeling the pain.

Her body was hot with pain as the spell hit her silently. This time, Rebekah was prepared for the pain and gritted her teeth as she steadied herself onto her knees instead of on the floor like anyone else would be. As the pain stayed the same, her tolerance increased and she let out a strangled laugh, mocking Voldemort with an eye roll.

The adrenaline glowing through her made her want to move, hit, cast, duel! There was a sudden desire to cause just as much pain as she was receiving. A want that just had to be fulfilled before it consumed her whole mind with rage.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!"

Her wand slashed to the right, firing the spell into the legs of all of the Death Eaters. Voldemort was the only one able to block it, glaring at Wormtail who had begun to wail with pain again. Her laugh came out as a groaning gasp but she still laughed at him.

He deserved it.

With his wails as background noise, the Girl-Who-Lived and the Dark Lord began to properly duel. No spells left their lips but hit each other with such intensity that made their adrenaline spike. Flashes of red, green, orange, yellow, every shade of the spectrum came out of their wands as they tried to up one another.

It felt like no time had passed, and yet all of the world could have been destroyed and both of them would not have noticed. They were engrossed into their battle of wills. He wanted her dead. She wanted to be left alone. Both panted as their Magic battled each other, too similar to overwhelm the other.

"HALT!" Voldemort shouted, stepping out of the way of a spell. Rebekah paused as she watched him lift his hands up, he grinned. "I wouldn't have thought you would have been this good, Rebekah. Especially for a lion against a snake."

"Are you referring to my Animagus form or House?" Rebekah narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Perhaps both,"

"What House do you think I am?"

"The same as your filthy mother and father? No?" Rebekah shook her head with a curl of the lips. "Ravenclaw then. Definitely not Hufflepuff… Oh, I wouldn't think the daughter of two Gryffindors would be in the pit of snakes…"

The Death Eaters gasped, turning to each other in whispers.

"Don't be so surprised, Voldemort,"

"You speak my name…"

"What's the point of me being scared of saying your name? I could call you Tom if you like? No? Okay." Rebekah spread her arms in anger. "Kill me! Try and see. I've escaped death more than once. Let's try my luck again!"

As soon as she saw his lips widen, the beginnings of the killing curse, Rebekah started her own spell. Her white was bright against the green of his, both spells reflected in their castor's eyes. It gave the surrounding Death Eaters shivers as they watched their master and enemy duel.

Priori Incantatem was reached.

A dome of crisscrossing, golden beams of light appeared around the two, encasing them away from the Death Eaters who began to call out for instructions and orders. Rebekah couldn't let go of her wand, the tip connected to Voldemort's wand by a gold thread of light. Both of their hands shook as they both tried to hold on tightly.

"Do nothing!" He tried to break the connection but Magic didn't let him. He struggled and it amused Rebekah as she watched the Death Eaters circle them like hyenas waiting for the kill.

"Back down!" Rebekah held tightly onto her wand, not letting it break the golden thread. "This is between us!"

"Do nothing unless I command you!" Voldemort shouted to the Death Eaters.

The bead of light stayed in the middle, never wavering from there as neither was more powerful than the other.

Do it, something in the back of her mind echoed, bring the bead to you. Let him think he is winning.

Slowly, with a steady breath she took in and out, she let the power she put into her spell dwindle as she watched the bead approach her end. When she saw the look of triumph in Voldemort's face, she sent it back harder.

The more her scar hurt, her shoulder ached, thigh trembled under pain, the more adrenaline filled her instinct to survive.

As if she would allow him to kill her in any way that wasn't on equal terms. Even here, in the graveyard near the Riddle manor, they were not on equal terms. Rebekah was tired from doing the Maze and Voldemort's resurrection would cause him discomfort for a few hours.

In one corner of her eye, she saw someone dressed in black robes and a glowing light for a face she couldn't see. In the other corner, someone in pure white robes stood with bandages around their eyes. Both had their hands covered by the long sleeves of their robes.

Rebekah wasn't the only one seeing them, Voldemort's eyes widened in fear as he looked to the white robed form. His fight became stronger, trying to win.

The Death Eaters screamed and yelled as two animals tumbled into them.

A serpent was wrapped around a lion, Emperor, as she tried to bite him but he just bit her back. They rolled and tumbled into everyone, and almost hit both of the dueling Wixen.

"Nagini, kill him already!" Voldemort screamed.

Rebekah laughed. "I'd like to see you try. Emperor, devour!"

Both Familiars fought like hell was going to occur if they didn't. It would distract their Masters and give them both time to get back and retreat if they so wished. But they knew their Masters, neither would give up until the other was dead. So they got in the way.

As soon as both creatures reached the centre, both Voldemort and Rebekah stopped their spells to watch their Familiars fight. But Rebekah didn't stop to watch, her eye was on the trophy as soon as it could become a complete plan in her head.

With an outstretched hand, her eyes then reverted back to Emperor and Nagini before summoning it. It whizzed through the air and Rebekah launched herself onto it, Emperor curled into her stomach just as suddenly as Voldemort was finally able to comprehend what just happened.

Wormtail screamed and sctreetched as Voldemort tortured him for a mere moment in anger as Rebekah cackled and felt the tug at her navel.

)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(