DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise.

Chapter 2.

Ancient, mystical runes were inscribed on the musty floor, glowing with an eerie light. They formed a circle, a circle of deep blood-red. A dark-haired woman with heavy-lidded eyes was sitting beside the circle, leaning on the wall, drawing deep, heavy breaths. She was clutching her arm which had a deep gash on it. Blood was continuously dribbling out and forming a pool beside her.

Bellatrix was panting as she gripped her wound tightly with her hand. Her master had insisted that the runes of the Ritual Circle should be inscribed with her blood and the wound should be kept open during the Ritual.

'Bellatrix, I thought you could bear much more pain than that.'

Bellatrix turned her head to see her master lying on the couch. Even though all his power had been robbed, she knew that he enjoyed seeing his followers in pain.

'I am ready to tolerate any amount of pain and even face death for the Dark Lord." said Bellatrix proudly, inspite of her pain. All her words were true. She possessed an insane amount of loyalty and reverence for the Dark Lord Voldemort. And she was proud of it. Her entire life had been dedicated to serving the Dark Lord, ever since these ideas had been drilled into her in home by her parents and at school by her friends.

'And that is why you are my most loyal servant.' said Voldemort, pleased by her words.

Bellatrix was reveling in her master's praise when suddenly a thought struck her. 'My Lord, in order to fulfill this task, do I really need to become friendly with that lot?'

'Yes, Bellatrix.' replied Voldemort. 'You need to win their trust and become close to them so that you may finally steer them towards the Dark.'

'But my Lord, it means I have to repair my relations with my blood traitor cousin, be nice to a filthy werewolf, become close to that idiotic Potter and worst of all, befriend a mudblood!'

'Yes Bellatrix, no matter how despicable they are, you must tolerate them!' said Voldemort who was clearly getting irritated by Bellatrix's rant. 'James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin need to become Death Eaters for me to win this Battle. Moreover, regarding Lily Potter, she does have dirty blood in her veins but she was an extremely talented and powerful witch. She will be a valuable asset to me and she will help tremendously to turn her son, Harry Potter, away from the Light side.'

Bellatrix remained quiet. After some time, Voldemort continued, 'Your spirit will be transferred to your eleven-year old body and mind. After you complete your task, you must inform my past self about your mission who will recruit you and your friends into the ranks of the Death Eaters. Then we will wreak havoc on the wizarding world and claim Hogwarts as our own!'

'Yes, my Lord.' said Bellatrix.

'And it would be good if you get Sorted into Gryffindor.' added Voldemort.

'S…s…s…sorted into G….g…Gryffindor, my Lord!' stuttered Bellatrix.

'Yes. Being a Gryffindor, it would be easier for you to get closer to your targets and become their friend.'

'But………' Bellatrix couldn't even imagine not being a Slytherin, forget being a 'Gryffindork'. 'But my Lord, Gryffindors are so……are so…….' Bellatrix just couldn't find the words to describe her disgust.

'You will have to do it Bellatrix, that is final.' Voldemort's tone did not invite an argument.

'Yes, my Lord.' said Bellatrix, though she still could not agree to the idea in her mind. As she stared at the dark, twisted, medieval runes, a question passed her mind. 'My Lord, if I may ask, why didn't you use the Spiritus Transferus Ritual when our plans were foiled earlier?'

'I'm aware that I could have used it when I failed to kill Harry Potter.' said Voldemort icily. 'However, the Spiritus Transferus Ritual is extremely powerful and dangerous. It has a few more conditions apart from the ingredients such as the medium's blood and Acromantula Venom.'

'What kind of conditions, my Lord?' asked Bellatrix curiously.

'It can only be performed by a Dark Parselmouth. That I already am. But there is one more condition. If the Ritual is successful, then it completely drains the life energy of the Parselmouth.

Bellatrix stared at her master, open-mouthed. 'But my Lord, that means………'

'You are correct, Bellatrix.' said Voldemort. 'That means I will finally die as a result of the Ritual. All my horcruxes are already gone, and finally, I will go as well.'

'But….' started Bellatrix when Voldemort interrupted her.

'No Bellatrix, it must be done. If you succeed, then I will live because you will erase the original timeline and create a new one. In the new timeline, I will not need to perform this Ritual, hence I will remain unharmed. I will not remember this task I have given you but you will. I did not perform this Ritual earlier because there was a risk that my Death Eaters would not succeed and there were other options. Now, this is the only option to revive and restore my power and win the Battle. You must succeed.'

'But my Lord……..' protested Bellatrix again when Voldemort interrupted with an icy tone which made it final.

'You will not question my orders, Bellatrix. No matter how loyal, you are still a petty Death Eater who does not have the authority to question me. You will do as you are told. Remember, even if I am weakened, I am still Lord Voldemort who is not going to permit such insolence. Do you understand?'

'Yes, my Lord.' said Bellatrix quietly with her head bowed down. 'I will never dare to do something like that again. I beg pardon for my insolence.'

'Good. For if I had my wand in my hand right now, you would be facing quite a lot of pain compared the one you are receiving from your wound.'

Bellatrix shuddered as she remembered how it was like to be at the receiving end of one of her master's Cruciatus curses.

'I think that the runes have now powered up enough for the Ritual to begin.' said Voldemort. 'Take the Acromantula Venom.'

Bellatrix withdrew a small vial from within her cloak which contained a pearly white, frothy liquid. The blood from her hand slightly stained the vial.

'Now pour a little of it on each rune.' ordered Voldemort.

As Bellatrix poured the Venom on each rune, it glowed like molten silver before fading again.

'Now the blood.' said Voldemort.

Bellatrix gasped as she released the hand which had so tightly been gripping her wound. The blood now flowed freely down her arm. As the first drop of blood touched the runes, they shone with a bright flash of crimson that blinded Bellatrix for a few moments. As she recovered from the flash, Voldemort whispered:

'Bring me closer to the circle. It is time.'

Bellatrix dragged the bundle with her unhurt hand until it was lying just beside the circle. The very touch sent a jolt of thrill through her body, like an electric shock. After all, she wasn't touching anything remotely human, but something much more.

A long, white, translucent hand stretched out from the bundle. As the tip of the fingers touched the runes, they flashed once more. Then the whisper came again:

'Go inside the Ritual Circle.'

Bellatrix stepped into the Circle and waited with bated breath. Then Voldemort started chanting in Parseltongue. Bellatrix listened, fascinated by the sound which seemed so intriguing as well as soothing. She began going into a trance. The runes glowed brightly around her. It seemed as if the light was swirling around her in a never-ending spiral.

Then suddenly, rays of crimson light shot out of the runes and met above Bellatrix's head. It looked like a sphere of ruby red which was rotating and swirling above her. She felt the ripples of a giant wave of magic washing over her. Then she heard Voldemort's voice, faint as if it were hundreds of miles away, whispering:

'I have always fled from Death……. but now……. I embrace it……in order to be reborn, …………more powerful and stronger than ever.'

The silence was broken by Voldemort's ear-splitting scream which echoed round and round the room……....signalling the epic end of the Dark Lord, once and for all.

Bellatrix snapped out of the trance and yelled, 'My Lord!'

Everything flashed white for a second as Bellatrix felt herself being propelled into space and time. Her head started growing heavy and the more Bellatrix tried to clear her mind, the more befuddled it became. As she tried to open her eyelids which were becoming heavier by the second, she caught a fleeting glance of the dark room, the runes glowing brightly, the slumped form of a once-powerful Dark Lord and then finally, everything went blank.

A\N: Thanks to Rhapsody Crystal for being my first reviewer ever! Thanks a lot for the appreciation.

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