Harry landed on a patch of grass, his senses spinning out of control as his mind pieced together what had happened. He and Ness had won, they had grabbed the trophy which had brought them—a quick, dizzying glance up as something skinny and grey ran past informed him he was in a graveyard, But why? a Portkey, right, the trophy had been a trap! A portkey which—
The air around him dropped into dry ice temperatures as his mind supplied, "Which Ness knew about."
He tried to look at Ness, who had landed beside him and had someone's boot on his head, forcing him into the grass as the owner muttered a quick stunning spell as something inhuman rasped for Wormtail.
If Wormtail was here—the coward—then that meant that thing was here, the thing that had killed that old man in the garden for his pet snake Nagini in his dream. And as far as Harry knew, Wormtail followed—and currently served- only one master. Voldemort.
He tried to fight but quickly stopped when Wormtail gave a squeaky recollection of the 'Outsider's' work, how the boy had followed Barty Jr.'s orders flawlessly and took out the other champions earning a sickening low chuckle as the Thing addressed the 'Outsider'—Ness.
"Good work boy." Hate and venom intertwined into that one single word as Harry heard Ness somehow get to his feet, "Perhaps your kind isn't so useless after all."
"Yea, yea." His voice sounded empty, regretful even, but it wasn't enough to quell the hurt and coals of anger raging inside Harry as he tried to figure out why Ness had attacked the others- his friends even!
"This means you won't hurt them. Right-," he barely got to finish when Voldemort hissed, "Kill the Outsider!"
Harry and Ness barely had time to react as Wormtail did as told his voice wavering with fear but also power as he screamed, "Avada Kardiva!" and knocked Ness off his feet. His body dead before it fell to the ground with an echoing thud that sent shockwaves down his spine as he tried to process what happened.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a roar of rage and disgust coursing through his veins as Voldemort rasped, "Is it dead?" It, not he. IT. Ness had been a misguided pawn who Voldemort could barely care about despite going the extra mile and bringing him the boy behind his downfall like a gift wrapped present.
A shuffle and the soft crunch of dead grass pulled him from his thoughts as Wormtail checked the body then murmured a spell before stammering, "I believe so my lord. Sh-hould I use it again?"
There was a long pause before Voldemort gave a soft, "No, begin the ritual."
"Yes my lord." He grunted as Wormtail forcibly positioned his stiff body into a sitting potion, then tied him to a cross. His arms tightly bound and his vision forcibly facing forward.
Allowing him to see a cauldron bubbling a milky white, a basket and a tomb stone covered in moss and grim. His stomach churned as he faintly read, Tom Riddle in the in script as Wormtail started to busy himself, his movements hurried but restrained by fear as he mumbled and fiddled with the cauldron.
How fitting that someone was dead, and they were in a graveyard. But why? Harry quickly stopped wondering why as he scanned the empty fields when he heard a strangled sound erupting from Wormtail and looked back just in time to see the man slicing off his hand and allowing it to fall into the cauldron as incoherent pained babbling accompanied the sacrifice.
He couldn't look away even though he felt bile actively churning and his eyes watering from the sight of the remaining stump of Wormtail's left hand. What kind of spell or potion required the user to lose a body part and—
"B-blood of t-the enemy…forcible taken to restrict your f-foe."
Before he could process that. Wormtail forcibly sliced open his bound wrist with trembling hands—hand and allowed a drop of blood to fall into a hastily produced bottle from the man's ragged robes before he staggered back to the bubbling caldron to offer the demonic potion his blood.
The world around him seem to grow unbearably cold and sharp as the potion glowed a violent red, burning into his wide eyes which couldn't look away out of unspoken horror and a small hope that it would backfire.
Please don't work." He pleaded, vaguely aware of his right hand trying to pull free and grab his wand to interfere as Wormtail dropped the worm like body of Voldemort into the boiling cauldron.
For an eternity, nothing happened as the cauldron suddenly calmed down. The blood red fading to a milky pink as the moon shined down with an almost hopeful ray of light on the suddenly to quiet graveyard.
After what felt like five minutes Harry felt his body relax and his breathing -which had jumped through levels of panicked bursts to barely drawing any air in- return to normal. Until he jinxed it by giving a soft sigh and closing his eyes to calm the swirling emotions attempting to make him visibly ill if he wasn't already.
Like a viper, fog curled around his legs forcing his eyes to snap open in dread as he watched a gangly thin figure rise up from the caldron, hidden behind the thick mist acting as curtain. A voice boarding on a faint wheeze brimming authority and undertone of icy glee ordered, "Robe." The mere word sending the sobbing Wormtail into a pained scramble as he picked up a black robe hidden behind the now empty basin and placed it over the figure's pale head.
Allowing the man Harry already knew from his vivid nightmares to step through, his chalk white skin and snake like features almost glowing in the moonlight as Lord Voldemort blinked his snake-like eyes, first examining Ness who was looking up at the sky in frozen disbelief and anger then looking at him and doing something far worse than Harry expected.
He smirked, his eyes twinkling with maniacal glee as he studied Harry's face, admiring the expression caught between being utterly horrified at his revival or looking ready to hurl from the sight of his dead friend and reborn killer of his parents.
Even Wormtail looked a little uneasy at his lord's gleeful expression as the monster of a man slowly took notice of his own body as if he had been to amused by his private joke to notice that he was once again alive and sadly, carrying a wand.
"M-my lord…" Wormtail wheezed, weakly trying to gesture to his stump of a hand while nervously studying the man, "Y-you promised…"
"Moment Wormtail." He and Harry flinched from the cold edge to his voice that was sadly not of malice, but delight as his scarlet eyes eyed the mark on Wormtail's hand, "This is a moment of history…Everyone should be able to witness this…"
Wormtail studied his master, then glanced at Ness before he caught up whimpering kiss ups and mumbles of how wise his Lord was as Voldemort pressed the mark of the Death Eaters tattooed onto Wormtail's hand.
It was a miracle that he didn't cry out from the blinding pain emitting from his scare as he heard faint pops and eager whispers that quickly died down when they spotted something, perhaps Ness's dead body, perhaps him. He couldn't tell as he fought back tears of pain swimming in his eyes.
As quickly as the searing pain came, it stopped. Signaling that Voldemort's followers had all arrived. "Good…good you're all here…Mostly anyway." He forced his eyes open just in time to see Voldemort give a disapproving glare at those who weren't there. It's withering gaze never faltering as some of the braver members of his sick, twisted court stepped forward to explain some of the members absent. Some in Azkaban, betrayal and sadly death to protect their Lord.
"No matter…. For today is a special day!" He sounded like a five-year-old at a birthday party, actually breaking out into a grin as he spread his arms wide, "It appears that saying—the enemy of my enemy is a friend—was correct!" with a sweeping gesture he pointed to Ness's corpse one that caused the crowd to tense as one then relax as their Lord announced, "Thanks to two surprisingly fateful followers, Dumbledore's secret weapon is dead!"
Wormtail perked up a little as Harry looked at Ness then Voldemort trying figure out what he meant by secret weapon. Dumbledore wouldn't need a weapon, he was like everyone else, believing Voldemort to be gone for good!
Although…didn't Ness make a joke or suggest something about Voldemort coming back to life with 'Phoenix Feather' or 'Water of Life'?
Oh, the irony of how right Ness was, foreseeing this very moment of Voldemort coming back to life and being dead for it. He jumped as someone stepped forward, their hood hiding their face to try but not before he spotted a very familiar lock of bleached blonde hair that a certain Slythrin boy had.
"Forgive me for doubting your word my lord, but how can we be sure that thing is truly dead?"
"How can we be sure that Voldemort is truly alive?" Harry bitterly questioned as the man pointed to Ness's dead body, why on earth was the elder Malfoy asking such a pointless question that would surely test their cold-hearted leader's patience?
To his surprise Voldemort merely smirked and gestured to Wormtail who was looking so proud of himself despite still shaking like a life, "The Wormtail spent the entire third trail hiding in his pocket, ensuring that he couldn't use shields or deflection attempts if he suspected our meeting to go amiss."
"He was a pawn my lord?" an eager and awed voice cried out, quickly being shushed by the more faithful followers, "Of course my dear Carrow, the moment he revealed his ties to his Mudblood family and friends he quickly joined our side to protect them." Voldemort shot a look mixed with mirth and pure hate toward the corpse which everyone was carefully watching, "He never had the time to worry about Harry let alone protect himself once Wormtail killed him."
Proud and envious murmurs rose up into the air then halted as Voldemort turned to Wormtail, "In fact, I think our little friend deserves a gift for his brave services."
Wormtail muffled a gasp and squeaked, "R-really my lord?"
"Of course, your wrist Wormtail." He did as told. Holding out his left hand and watching as Voldemort tapped it with his wand, silently performing a spell and pulling back as a pure white light began to take shape.
Molding itself into a perfect replica of Wormtai's severed hand and twitching when the man tried to wriggle his fingers, a childish grin of relief and glee on his face as he reached down and grinded a branch to dust. "T-thank you my lord." Wormtail managed, looking ready to faint from happiness with his new 'gift'.
Voldemort gave him a dismissive wave as he focused on Harry, his eyes twinkling with a light of pure sadistic glee, hinting that he was going to do something worse than kill him as he forced his face into a set scowl. A bit relived to see that the spell had faded away in the resurrection of his lord and master.
"Now I believe our dear friend owes me a little something in return for saving his life." Voldemort stated, his high voice rising a pitch as a jeering smirk settle on his face. If one could call it that.
The Death Eaters nodded in agreement and laughed as Harry allowed a bit of confusion to slip through his steely hate filled glare, perhaps it was Ness's spirit egging him on as he sarcastically snapped, "Oh yea, I definitely meant to be a blood donor for your little party."
The laughs grew even louder and colder, sending small shivers of unease down his spine as Voldemort's smirk grew, threatening to rip his papery skin as he mirthfully looked at him like a toddler calling a cat a dog.
"You, naïve fool, surely they've taught you about those abominations of nature?"
He glanced at Ness then retorted, "Americans are loud idiots, not freaks." As the laughter grew hysterical and Voldemort's grin slipped a little bit, anger first appearing in his eyes then surprise, "You truly don't know…" he breathed silencing the crowd who realized that Harry wasn't bluffing to seem brave.
"How amusing, and utterly pathetic. The boy who lived being feed spoonful after spoonful of information only needed for the moment, not the future." Harry scowled then faltered at how unnervingly genuine Voldemort sounded, even looking a little disgusted for some reason.
"Those muggle loving fools swept everything under the rug just to save their own hide after they invaded and interrupted our war." Voldemort hissed, his nostrils flaring a bit as some Death Eaters glumly confirmed this, one of them mumbling loud enough for him to hear, "The Ministry went so far as the blacklist books and American wizards the best they could…" before Voldemort shushed them.
"Perhaps we should play a little game Potter," Voldemort offered, lightly tapping his wand against his hand like a school teacher, "A lively duel if I might add."
He bit his tongue, bitterly reminding himself that he needed an out, a way to slip free and find the Portkey to return back to Hogwarts with Ness's body.
"It's simple. You win, and my followers shall let you leave after informing you of your 'friend's' race and history. If you lose…" he grinned and gestured to the grave behind him, "You can join my pathetic father twenty feet under the ground."
Before he could stall or even object. The ropes binding his hands suddenly vanished and he fell forward with a yelp, his numb hands flying for his wand as Voldemort whispered, "Impero!" and locked him in the familiar murky darkness Professor Moody had so many times before.
Only he could properly make out his surroundings in the hazy fog as Voldemort taunted him, "First, we bow. Surely Dumbeldore has taught you that much."
His forgotten anger crashed down on him in waves as he felt the familiar weight of a hand pressing down on him, trying to control him like a puppet as he slowly felt his body bow.
"Good, good. And now we take ten steps back and-," before Voldemort could finish with his lesson the ground rumble with a powerful shockwave, knocking everyone to the ground and leaving their minds spinning in a confused daze.
Harry blinked and shook his jumbled head as everything felt…off and hurt like nuts. Had he taken that bad a fall? He cringed and shook his head no as another shockwave rippled through the ground and oddly, through him in flashes of sunny yellow.
"Who is doing this!?" Voldemort demanded his voice strained with rage and an emotion he couldn't place at the moment as the shockwaves fell into an angry rhythm of rock n roll, the bright yellow moving to a pepper red, then a crimson.
"It's the boy!" someone screamed over the 'noise' as the 'sound' pounded in Harry's head, making it hard for him to focus let alone breath, "How is this possible?! He checked! He shouldn't be-,"
"OH MY GOD! HE'S A ZOMBIE!"
"Zombies don't use mind waves moron!"
"Vampire!"
"Not that either!"
"Who cares?! KILL HIM!"
"No!" he was surprised to hear his own voice join the noise and to find that his eyes were opened, barely able to focus on the dead grass underneath him as he pushed himself into a kneeling position. Watching in horror as venomous green filled the air and flew toward Ness, who was alive and sitting up, his breathing unsteady and his eyes unable to focus.
"Ness!" Harry screamed.
Ness flinched then threw himself forward, allowing the spells to slam into the tombstones behind him. A haze of grey dust flew from the sky as Ness slowly pushed himself to his feet.
His entire body shaking as he swayed from side to side. "Ness?" the boy didn't answer him as he looked at Voldemort who was getting to his feet with loud, racking wheezes for air.
"Of course, your kind would be able to defy nature." Voldemort growled raising a hand to point his wand at Ness, "Crucio!"
"No!" tightening his grip around his almost forgotten wand, Harry threw himself into motion, using it to stand up and yell the first thing that came to his static filled mind, "Expliarmous!"
"You fool!" Voldemort roared as the spell was abruptly canceled and the wand flew harmlessly into the tangled heap of Death Eaters, "He'll kill us all!"
"Like you were about to do?!" Harry spat, refusing to allow his frown of worry show through as Ness pulled out his bat and readied it, "Ness, the Portkey! We can-," Harry started when Ness charged forward with an inhuman scream of rage, sending another shockwave loose that sent Voldemort and the few followers who were standing to their knees.
Someone screamed in fear as Ness swung his bat and connected with Voldemort's right shoulder. His stomach twisting into tight knots as Ness sent Voldemort crashing to the ground with a strangled yell of pain that shattered the fearful silence.
Chaos erupted across the graveyard, Death Eaters barking orders to contain Ness who met every challenger with the angry red shockwaves, blinding flashes and a swing that could—and would- break bone. Wormtail was doing his best to comfort Voldemort while yelling for their master's wand.
It was like a war, horrible and inhuman as wizards fell to their knees either crying hysterically or because they had met their demise with Ness's bat, the boy was moving drunkenly like a wild tiger with enough venomous hate in his eyes to kill a viper as Harry watched, Professor Kale's warning bouncing through his head.
"When the one bounded by Earth snaps, hit the ground."
And here he was, lying on the ground in fear and awe at Ness's power as the large group fell apart, the survivors fleeing while Wormtail tried to get Voldemort to his feet.
"Not so fast." The cold around them dropped back into dry ice as Ness suddenly loomed over the villains, his eyes foggy with hate and anger. Still unable to focus on anything. Wormtail gave a scream as Voldemort, the man who had spat in Death's face and evaded the grim reaper's grasp recoiled in terror and pure hate.
Harry couldn't blame them, Ness seemed so inhuman, and his voice…good lord, it was empty and pained but still able to sound commanding as the boy pointed his lightly blood-stained bat at Voldemort's head.
"You wizards seem to only understand force…So…" he pulled Voldemort's forgotten wand from his pocket and broke it into four pieces before dropping it into Wormtail's hand. "Pull me into any more of your schemes again. Threaten my family again…. And I'll kill you." It was a low whisper, but it was loud enough to echo in Harry's ears as he watched from his spot in the grass.
"Then leave." Voldemort spat, "I have no business with filthy PSI users like you!"
Ness gave Voldemort a long, foggy look before a shockwave ripped through the cold. Making them recoil in pain, "I didn't want to come here." Ness explained the shockwave pulsing in rhythm as he spoke, "I was forced here. By Dumbledore. And trust me. I plan on leaving the moment this silly tournament is over."
"Then I doubt we'll have any problems in the future." Voldemort hissed, nudging Wormtail who gave a frightful nod and Apperated them to safety. Leaving Harry alone with Ness who was still studying the spot where Voldemort had been.
"Harry." He jumped, his body shaking as Ness's eyes focused on him, "I hate magic. I hate being forced to die. And I hate wizards." He could only give a blank look, unsure what to say as Ness's eyes rolled up into his head and he fainted.
Allowing calm to settle over the Graveyard. He waited a good ten minutes before he stood up, or rather tried to stand up. His body felt like someone had forced him into DJ Booth with exercise machines while blaring loud music. Shattering every nerve and muscle in the process.
He managed a weak curse as he fought against the waves of nausea and the dam of tears waiting to break free as he grabbed Ness's limp form and dragged him over to the Portkey, flinching every time Ness stirred or gave a sharp inhale.
"I'm a friend." He whispered, but it did little to calm him, and he doubted Ness would care at the moment as he wrapped trembling fingers around the cool metal and teleported back to Hogwarts.
Figured I might as well post this chapter before I possibly lose power thanks to another snow storm.