The Alexander Chronicles Year 4: The Return of Darkness.
Chapter 33: The Return of the Dark Lord.
Alex felt his feet slam into the ground; his hand let go of the Triwizard Cup at last. He took a deep breath, and raised his head. "What happened?"
They had left the Hogwarts grounds completely; they had obviously travelled miles - perhaps hundreds of miles - for even the mountains surrounding the castle were gone. They were standing instead in a dark and overgrown graveyard; the black outline of a small church was visible beyond a large yew tree to their right. A hill rose above them to their left. Alex could just make out the outline of a fine old house on the hillside.
"It was a portkey." Cedric said looking at the Triwizard Cup before letting go of it as well making the cup fall to the ground.
Both boys drew their wands and aimed at each other at the same time. "So this is it just you and me. Just like you wanted."
"And as you wanted." Alex growled.
"Just back down Black. I was supposed to be Hogwarts champion."
"And I never wanted to be one. I wanted to watch, but I can´t help to I fight, and I am sorry, but I. I never wanted it this, but now I want to win."
Cedric looked determined. "As do I. I guess the best wizard will win."
"Cedric! Alex, is that you!" shouted a familiar voice.
"Harry!" Alex and Cedric said in unison before they ran towards Harry´s voice. Soon they could see Harry. He was pinned up against large stone monument, magically tied by robes.
"Harry what happened? Where are we?" Alex asked now truly afraid.
"I don´t know. I went to get my wand and I was attacked from behind, but from my training I tried to fight back, but I got knocked out and woke up here."
"Did you see who attacked you? Alex asked.
"Yes."
"Who?" Cedric asked having joined them.
"I don´t knew. It wasn´t a student but he looked like-"
"Hallo Alexander!" said a familiar voice; one very familiar to Alex. He and Cedric turned around and faced Alex´s Uncle Adrian, leaning against a tall grave. "I knew you'd get that cup."
"It was him that attacked me. He's one of the men in my dreams," Harry said.
"What?" Alex said, looking at Harry. "Dreams? Harry, why didn't you tell me this?" Harry didn't answer, as Alex wondered if Harry did know something he didn't.
"Someone else's coming," Cedric said suddenly.
Squinting tensely through the darkness, they watched another figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward them between the graves. Alex couldn't make out a face, but from the way it was walking and holding its arms, Alex could tell that it was carrying something. Whoever it was, he was short, and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over his head to obscure his face. And - several paces nearer, the gap between them closing all the time - they saw that the thing in the person's arms looked like a baby…or was it merely a bundle of robes?
As it got nearer, Alex could see that the thing in the small person's arms looked like a baby…or was it merely a bundle of robes.
Alex lowered his wand slightly and glanced sideways at Cedric. Cedric shot him a quizzical look. Harry groaned out. Alex turned to look at Harry; his scar seemed to be bleeding a little. And at the moment, Alex was sure who that was in the man's arms. Alex turned back to watch the approaching figures. They had stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from them. For a second Alex, Harry, and Cedric and the two figures simply looked at one another.
And then, without warning, Harry let out a scream of pain, shocking both Alex and Cedric.
"Harry!" Alex shouted.
From far away, above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare."
Alex looked at Cedric, yelling that he should get down, but it was too late. A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night: "Avada Kedavra!"
A blast of green light reflected through Alex´s eyes, and hitting Cedric right in the chest, throwing him to the ground. Cedric lied spread-eagled on the ground beside them. He was dead. Alex stared in horror, never before seeing death. Alex vomited at the sight and he could hear that Harry scream in horror.
"I always knew you were a weakling." Adrian sneered.
Alex looked up giving his uncle a hateful stare. "You monster, you didn´t had to kill him."
"But we didn´t need him alive either" Adrian said before sending a spell towards Alex, who narrowly ducked it. Alex quickly dove behind a stone grave as another spell shattered the corner of it.
"Come on, Alexander," Adrian mocked. "You are a weakling and but surely not that much of a coward?" Breathing heavily, Alex slowly stood out from behind the stone grave, pointing his wand at Adrian. "There you go."
"Stupefy!" Alex shouted, but Adrian easily deflected the spell.
"Come on I know you can do better than this. My son told me so." Adrian yelled, before sending a red curse that looked like to Fulgur. Alex didn´t had time to dodge or block it, and screamed in pain as the curse hit. "That was a draining spell boy." Adrian sneered as the curse was lifted. To Alex the curse name was fitting as he felt weaker and more tired.
"Come on Alex, don´t give up!" Harry encouraged.
"Fulgur!" Alex screamed however, Adrian blocked the curse.
"That is better, but is not good enough." However, Alex could hear that holding up the shield took much of his uncle´s energy. Alex tried putting more power in his curse, but he was beginning to suffer from exhaustion and his stomach hurt from the fall from earlier.
Adrian smiled as the curse faded. "How can we be related? I mean the draining curse only took a bit of your magic." He mocked and before sending a new curse towards Alex making him fall to the ground. "Get up boy."
Alex growled and jumped to his feet sending the Reducto curse towards his Uncle. It was blocked, but followed by a cutting curse. Adrian was caught off guard by the speed and only narrowly ducked it.
"That is it!" Adrian sneered. Panting from having used much of his magic Alex faced his uncle only to see him sending a white spell towards him.
Alex quickly lifted his wand and shouted, "Protego!" and his shield was up, but Adrian spell shattered it, hitting Alex in the chest and sending flying into another stone monument . As he hit the stone Alex could hear Harry yelling for Adrian to stop.
Alex tried to get up, but he couldn't. Not because it was magical, but because he was in too much pain. Adrian stood there, laughing at his nephew, and then waved his wand conjuring ropes around Alex.
"Get him ready" He ordered the roped figure, before he kicked Alex in the heard, as he lifted it slightly. "That was for my son." As Alex cried out in pain.
The short man in the cloak had put down his bundle, lit his wand, and dragged Alex over to the stone monument, where Harry was. Alex looked up at stone and noticed the name that was on it.
TOM RIDDLE
Alex turned back to the cloaked figure and could hear shallow, fast breathing from the depths of the hood from where he was; he saw a hand with a finger missing from under the figure's cloak.
And he realized who was under the hood. "Wormtail," Alex groaned as he was pulled to his feet and tied next to Harry.
Wormtail ignored him; he was busy checking the tightness of Alex´s cords, his fingers trembling uncontrollably, rumbling over the knots.
"Answer me you traitor."
Wormtail drew a length of some black material from the inside of his cloak and stuffed it roughly into Alex´s mouth then did the same to Harry; then, without a word, he turned from them and hurried away.
Cedric's body was lying some twenty feet away. Some way beyond him, glinting in the starlight, lay the Triwizard Cup. Alex´s wand had been dropped on the ground at his feet. The bundle of robes that Alex had thought was a baby was close by, at the foot of the grave. It seemed to be stirring fretfully. Alex could hear Harry moan in pain, then both boys looked at each other. And Alex could see that he was as terrified as he was.
And then Alex heard the hissing noises, "come to me". Alex looked and saw a gigantic snake slithering through the grass, circling the headstone where he was tied. Wormtail's fast, wheezy breathing was growing louder again. It sounded as though he was forcing something heavy across the ground. Then he came back pushing a stone cauldron to the foot of the grave. It was full of what seemed to be water. Alex could hear it slopping around - and it was larger than any cauldron Alex had ever used; a great stone belly large enough for a full-grown man to sit in.
The thing inside the bundle of robes on the ground was stirring more persistently, as though it was trying to free itself. Now Wormtail was busying himself at the bottom of the cauldron with a wand. Suddenly there were crackling flames beneath it. The large snake slithered away into the darkness. The liquid in the cauldron seemed to heat very fast. The surface began not only to bubble, but to send out fiery sparks, as though it were on fire. Steam was thickening, blurring the outline of Wormtail tending the fire. The movements beneath the robes became more agitated. And Alex heard the high, cold voice again.
"Hurry!"
The whole surface of the water was alight with sparks now. It might have been encrusted with diamonds.
"It is ready Master."
"Now…" said the cold voice.
Wormtail pulled open the robes on the ground, revealing what was inside them. It was as though Wormtail had flipped over a stone and revealed something ugly, slimy, and blind - but worse, a hundred times worse. The thing Wormtail had been carrying had the shape of a crouched human child, except that Alex had never seen anything less like a child. It was hairless and scaly-looking, a dark, raw, reddish black. Its arms and legs were thin and feeble, and its face - no child alive ever had a face like that - flat and snakelike, with gleaming red eyes.
The thing seemed almost helpless; it raised its thin arms, put them around Wormtail's neck, and Wormtail lifted it. As he did so, his hood fell back, and Alex saw the look of revulsion on Wormtail's weak, pale face in the firelight as he carried the creature to the rim of the cauldron. For one moment, Alex saw the evil, flat face illuminated in the sparks dancing on the surface of the potion. And then Wormtail lowered the creature into the cauldron; there was a hiss, and it vanished below the surface; Alex heard its frail body hit the bottom with a soft thud.
"You know what to do." Adrian said watching Wormtail with an exited look on his face.
Wormtail then began to speak. His voice shook; he seemed frightened beyond his wits. He raised his wand, closed his eyes, and spoke to the night.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"
The surface of the grave at Alex and Harry's feet cracked. Horrified, Alex watched as a fine trickle of dust rose into the air at Wormtail's command and fell softly into the cauldron. The diamond surface of the water broke and hissed; it sent sparks in all directions and turned a vivid, poisonous-looking blue.
And now Wormtail was whimpering. He pulled a long, thin, shining silver dagger from inside his cloak. His voice broke into petrified sobs.
"Flesh - of the servant - w-willingly given - you will - revive - your master."
He stretched his right hand out in front of him - the hand with the missing finger. He gripped the dagger very tightly in his left hand and swung it upward. Alex watched as the frightened man slashed off his own hand and winced when Wormtail let out his scream of pain. Alex looked and saw his hand on the ground. With Wormtail's anguished panting, the man picked it up and threw it in the cauldron making a sickening splash.
Wormtail was gasping and moaning with agony. Alex watched as he moved over to his right hand.
"What are you doing?" Alex tried to ask, but the cloth muttered his words. Nonetheless Wormtail ignored him grabbed his arm. Wormtail gave a sinister smile as he waved the wand over Alex´s hand and felt something pull into his fingers on his right hand.
Alex watched fearfully as Wormtail brought the knife closer to Alex´s index finger. "Flesh and bone from taken unwillingly from living bloodline you shall make your relative stronger." Alex screamed as the knife went through his flesh, bone, and cut of his finger. The pain was so intense that it blurred Alex´s vision. Alex could dimly watch Wormtail toss his finger in the cauldron.
Wormtail then moved over to Harry.
"B-blood of the enemy… forcibly taken… you will… resurrect your foe."
Alex tried getting free of the robes so he could stop Wormtail, but neither he or Harry could do anything to prevent it, both unable to move. Alex saw the shining silver dagger shaking in Wormtail's remaining hand. He saw its point penetrate the crook of Harry's right arm and blood seeping down the sleeve of his torn robes. Wormtail, still panting with pain, rumbled in his pocket for a glass vial and held it to Harry's cut, so that a dribble of blood fell into it.
Wormtail staggered back to the cauldron with Harry's blood. He poured it inside. The liquid within turned, instantly, a blinding white. Wormtail, his job done, dropped to his knees beside the cauldron, then slumped sideways and lay on the ground, cradling the bleeding stump of his arm, gasping and sobbing.
"Yes Yes," Adrian said, "at long last he returns."
The cauldron was simmering, sending its diamond sparks in all directions, so blindingly bright that it turned all else to velvety blackness. Nothing happened…but Alex wasn't paying too much attention as he was in a lot of pain. His hand, his stomach, and head was in pain.
And then, suddenly, the sparks emanating from the cauldron were extinguished. A surge of white steam billowed thickly from the cauldron instead, obliterating everything in front of Alex and Harry, so that he couldn't see Wormtail, Adrian, or Cedric or anything but vapour hanging in the air.
But then, through the mist in front of him, they saw, with an icy surge of terror, the dark outline of a man, tall and skeletally thin, rising slowly from inside the cauldron.
"Robe me," said the high, cold voice from behind the steam, and Wormtail, sobbing and moaning, still cradling his mutilated arm, scrambled to pick up the black robes from the ground, got to his feet, reached up, and pulled them one handed over his master's head.
The thin man stepped out of the cauldron and Adrian kneeled. "My master." he whispered. "It is a pleasure."
Voldemort ignored him as he were staring at Harry…and Harry stared back into the face just as Alex did. Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils…
Lord Voldemort had risen again.
Voldemort looked away from Harry and began examining his own body. His hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness. He held up his hands and flexed the fingers, his expression rapt and exultant. He took not the slightest notice of Wormtail, who lay twitching and bleeding on the ground, nor of the great snake, which had slithered back into sight and was circling Harry again, hissing, not even Alex. Voldemort slipped one of those unnaturally long-fingered hands into a deep pocket and drew out a wand. He caressed it gently too; and then he raised it, and pointed it at Wormtail, who was lifted off the ground and thrown against the headstone where Harry and Alex was tied; he fell to the foot of it and lay there, crumpled up and crying. Voldemort turned his scarlet eyes upon Harry, laughing a high, cold, mirthless laugh.
He then turned his wand on Adrian, who began screaming as he was put under the Cruciatus curse. "And let that be a lesson, to never again abandon your master Adrian."
"Yes my lord. I will never fail you again."
"Good, but know this. If you ever fail again you will die."
Alex struggled against the ropes. His body was arcing and he was tried, but he need to get free then get Harry free and then somehow escape. No, it was pointless he was going to die. Just as that thought entered his heard Alex, the robes that tied him vanished. Alex yelped as he fell, and the first thing he did when he was on the ground was to remove the cloth so he could vomit. He could hear Harry shouting his name, his cloth somehow removed.
Alex knew that Voldemort would kill him, and Voldemort would apparently hear him scream as Alex was killed.
This couldn't be happening Alex didn´t want to die. He wanted to live. Not die in this place - away from everyone he loved; Daphne, his parents, most of his friends. He would never see them again. He would never hold his girlfriend in his arms again.
"Hallo young Alexander Black," Voldemort whispered. "I owe you my thanks. You sacrifice have brought me back stronger than before."
Alex looked up at Voldemort, seeing red and snake-like face. "No, this can´t be happing. You can´t be back."
"Now that I'm back, young Black. I have an offer to make you. I know that you are a very powerful wizard. Just like me. You are have Slytherin blood in you just like me. I know that you are capable of great things. And thus come my offer and trust me you will say yes." The cold voice said. Alex continued to look at the Dark Lord, staring into his eyes, he wanted to hear it. It could be a chance to live.
Alex watched as a pale, skinny, and skeletal looking hand reached out in front of him. "Join me," Voldemort said. "Join me. I can give you more power than you can imagine. I can show you real and true magic. Magic that can help you live for all eternity. Join me and Join my cause, for our world will be the purest." Voldemort said as he offered Alex his hand. "Join me, and rule at my side."
…
Chapter end
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