Chapter 22
"Ah, Jugson." The Dark Lord paused in front of a figure standing tall.
"My Lord," Jugson knelt down and kissed the Dark Lord's robes.
"Thank you, thank you for setting this all up my most faithful servant. You will be greatly rewarded once we are done here." The Dark Lord almost, almost, sounded like he was proud.
"Thank you, Master." Jugson said as he stood up.
'It only took two steps to reach Cassie, and one swift movement to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder.
He remembered enjoying the feeling of her in his arms, even though it wasn't the position he had dreamed of picking her up in.'
"And here we have eight 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… two who are at Hogwarts supporting their son, the Hogwarts Champion… and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already reentered my service."
The Death Eaters stirred.
"He is at Hogwarts, that faithful servant, and it was through his efforts that our young friend arrived here tonight…"
"Yes," the Dark Lord said, a grin curling his lipless mouth as the Death Eaters turned to look in Harry's direction.
He scanned the Great Hall once, and when he went to do a second scan, a girl with silvery blonde hair up in a braided crown smiled.
She didn't change her face so he recognized her scar.
"You look beautiful." He said as soon as he reached her.
She had a red gown that was sleeveless and looked absolutely stunning with the shade.
"You look handsome." She smiled at him.
Cassius' heart did a flip as he remembered that smile.
And her clavicle… oh how he wished he had kissed her more.
"Master, we crave to know… we beg you to tell us… how you achieved this… this miracle… how you managed to return to us…"
"Ah, what a story it is, Lucius," The Dark Lord said. "And it begins - and ends - with my young friend here. But before we get to that…"
Cassius stood up straighter when the Dark Lord's gaze turned to him.
"Mr. Warrington, you did phenomenally." The Dark Lord's voice was quiet and sent shivers down Cassius' spine.
"Thank you, My Lord." Cassius nodded.
"And the girl?" The Dark Lord asked.
Harry stirred against the grave stone.
"Hurshly Thathiuth!?"
"Potter! You will have your turn." The Dark Lord's red eyes flashed at Harry.
Harry struggled against his binds, but they didn't loosen.
"She will take some work, but I'm sure I can convince her." Cassius didn't look at Harry when he said it.
"Very good, very good." The Dark Lord nodded.
"You have not received my mark yet, but you will soon be taking your place in my circle. Go ahead and take your place now, and when tonight is over, you will receive my mark." The Dark Lord gestured to the wide space between the Death Eaters.
"Thank you, My Lord.'' Cassius nodded his head and walked over to stand in the middle of the empty space.
"Now, to Mr. Harry Potter. You know, of course, that they have called this boy my downfall?" The Dark Lord asked, his voice never changing in volume.
Cassie took a sip of her punch.
The Magiga's potion worked fast, turning her silvery blonde hair to black. And revealing all of her scars.
"Seriously?!" Cassie raised her voice.
Her hand up to her elbow was completely black. The flame pattern was only visible up to her shoulder, with one lick of flame burning across her collarbone. On the right side of her collarbone, she had a strange stab scar. There was a rumor it was from the basilisk from her second year.
"Beth!" Cassius turned to the girl.
"It wasn't you?" Cassie asked Cassius.
Beth actually looked shocked at the scars on Cassie's body. But it was wiped off when she was covered in punch.
"You bitch!" Beth shrieked.
"You all know that on that 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 couldn't not touch the boy."
The Dark Lord raised one of his long white fingers and put it way close to Harry's cheek.
"His mother left upon him the traces of her sacrifice… This old magic, I should have remembered it, I was foolish to overlook it… but no matter. I can touch him now."
Cassius noticed the pained look on Harry's face, and his stomach flipped with guilt.
"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 meanest 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'm so sorry!" Cassius said as Snape and McGonagall walked away from their group.
"I need some air." Cassie put down her brownie and walked out of the Great Hall towards the courtyard.
Cassius stared at the flames on her back. One was curled on her shoulder, where if she went to look over at Cassius, she would see it. The other one was below her shoulder blade.
'She's literally tried walking through a cursed fire for Potter.' Cassius thought to himself.
"Cassie -" He didn't realize he had spoken out loud.
"Not right now. I need a moment." She lifted her left hand.
Cassius stayed behind her, but kept his distance.
He gave her another once over. She had little scars on her neck, and her tattoos were flashing brighty.
A book, a lightning bolt, and a chess piece.
"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…"
The Dark Lord waited a moment in silence.
"Only one power remained to me. I could not 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 a little better off inside them than as a 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 of 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 of immortal life. I was thwarted… thwarted, once again, by Harry Potter…"
"Can you kiss me now?" Cassie asked.
The two of them were standing underneath an archway that was decorated beautifully with icicles and roses.
Cassius looked down at her.
"Don't you want it to be a surprise?"
"I'll be surprised whenever you decide to kiss me." She told him.
Cassius let out a chuckle.
"Will you?" She asked again.
Cassius looked down at her, staring into her dark grey eyes. They were wide with hope, and the icicles were reflecting light into them. She had sucked in a breath of anticipation and it made her chest a little bigger; Cassie's cheeks were flushed from the walk and the cold. Suddenly, Cassius couldn't remember why he was putting off kissing her.
He moved quickly, cupping her face with both of his hands. He stepped closer to her, having to bend down a little bit to do so.
He wanted to remember this moment.
He wanted her to remember this moment.
"Please." She whispered.
Cassius kissed her.
"The servant died when I left his body, and I was left as weak as ever I had been. I returned to my hiding place far away, and I will not pretend to you that I didn't then fear that I may never regain my powers… Yes, that was perhaps my darkest hour… I could not 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 came to me. Wormtail here, who had faked his own death to escape justice, was driven out of hiding by those he had once counted friends, and decided to return to his master. He sought me in the country where it had long been rumored I was hiding… helped, of course, by the rats he met along the way. Wormtail has a curious affinity for rats, do you not, Wormtail? His filthy little friends told him there was a place, deep inside the 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 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 Jorkin, 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.
Cassius remembered the many letters he tried to send to his parents. All about how he had fallen for Cassie, and not the other way around. About how there was something really special about Cassie Zwart. And not because she was a Seer.
He never could find the right words to express to his parents.
"She told me that the Triwizard Tournament would be played at Hogwarts this year. She told me she knew a faithful Death Eater who would be only two willing to help me, if I could only contact him. She told me many things… but the means I used the break the Memory Charm upon here 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."
The Dark Lord smiled his terrible smile, his red eyes blank.
'I don't want this.' Cassius finally realized.
"Wormtail's body, of course, was ill adapted for possession, as all assumed him dead, 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 inventions… a little help from my dear Nagini," the Dark Lord's eyes fell upon the snaked that circled Harry and the tombstone, "a potion concocted from unicorn blood, and the snake venom Nagini provided… I was soon returned to 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 of his mother once gave him would then reside in my veins too…
"But how to get at Harry Potter? For he has better protection 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 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 to 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 the Muggle-loving fool from morning until night. So how could I take him?
"Why… by using Bertha Jorkins 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, 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 - and to make sure that our up and coming young member helped him along the way - 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…"
The Dark Lord moved to face Harry and raised his wand.
"Crucio!"
Cassius's mind was filled with thoughts and memories of Cassie. Her smile, her laugh, and how she tried to be kind to everyone.
"You see, I think, how foolish it was to suppose that this boy could ever have been stronger than me," the Dark Lord said.
Cassius's heart dropped into stomach. He knew what he was going to do.
"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, 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 doubt which of us is the stronger. Just a little longer, Nagini," the Dark Lord whispered.
Nagini glided away through the grass to where the Death Eaters stood watching.
"Now untie him, Cassie, and give him back his wand."
Cassius hesitated only for a moment, but he approached Harry and released him from his bindings. Harry scrambled to his feet as Cassius cut through the rope.
Harry's injured leg shook under him, and the Death Eaters closed their ranks. The gaps were filled.
Cassius tried desperately to catch Harry's eye as he grabbed the boy's wand.
When Harry did look him in the eye, he snarled, "traitor."
Cassius grimaced and handed Harry's wand back to him.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
Cassius turned to the Dark Lord.
"You're going to have to kill me before you get to Harry." Cassius said, knowing what the outcome would be.
He remembered Cassie's lips on his.
"I did not catch what you said," the Dark Lord hissed.
"You are - going to have - to kill me before you - get to Harry." Cassius repeated.
Cassie's laughter rang through his ears. He wished he had talked to her one more time.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked behind him.
"Making my own decision." Cassius turned his head to Harry.
"Cassius. Is this how you want to be remembered? I will have to tell your parents what happened here." The Dark Lord said quietly.
"I don't want to accept the Dark Mark. I don't want to be a Death Eater. I don't want to live in a world where people are afraid to live!" Cassius spoke loudly.
His heart was beating hard in his ears.
Cassie's smiling face was in the front of his mind.
"Very well."
"Avada Kedavra!"
There was a flash of green light, and then -
nothing.
What a journey. First I want to apologize that this wasn't out last week. I had something pop up this week and I was able to finish this for us. I will be taking several months off to replenish my writing juices, and to start writing the next story. I'm not sure how much I'll reference Cassius but I know he will be mentioned several times this next book.
Shout out to astrea for adding me and 'The Treasured Goblet of Fire' to your favorite and following list!
Shout out to Pamela Hutchins for leaving a review!
Pamela Hutchins: Thank you! I appreciate it!
Catch Cassie and her friends in the next story,
'The Treasured Order of Phoenix' !
