Author's Note: Hey readers! Hope your week is good! Here is the chapter detailing Tom's rebirth, a long conversation with the Death Eaters who returned, and his long-awaited duel with Harry Potter. It is no secret what happens of course, but I decided to combine moments from the book and the movie and I cut out a lot and added some of my own. I really hope you enjoy, even though it is very similar to what we have already read/seen, but that's what you have when writing completely canon. Also, Nagini's commentary cracked me up, so I hope you get the same effect.
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter rights and characters belong to J.K Rowling. I am simply having fun with my imagination. Thanks
...Wormtail had been particularly quiet all day and remained quiet as he picked Tom up, covered him in a long black cloak which he had brought for the occasion, pocketed his dagger, and set out for the graveyard, with Nagini slithering happily at his feet...
CHAPTER 34: PRIORI INCANTATEM
"He is not here yet, master," said Wormtail as he looked around the property nervously.
"He will come soon," said Tom, who was feeling very eager tonight.
Wormtail walked around the field, carrying Tom like a child again. The night sky was clear and starless and the air was relatively cool. Nagini slithered away from Wormtail, no doubt going to check the graveyard again. Wormtail stood at the center of the lawn by the Riddle House and shuddered. He put the hood of his cloak on so that it covered his rat-like face and placed one hand in his pocket while he held Tom with the other hand.
"M-master," he tried again, "W-will you replace m-m-my arm, m-master?"
"Yes," said Tom, a little annoyed.
"Y-y-you p-promise?" said Wormtail, who was again on the verge of tears.
"Get a grip on yourself, idiot," snapped Tom.
Wormtail stifled a sob and continued to walk about the lawn.
"You remember the procedure?" said Tom after several silent minutes.
"F-f-f-flesh, blood, a-a-and b-b-bone," repeated Wormtail.
"Good," said Tom. "I will reward you, Wormtail. You know I will."
"T-t-thank y-you, m-m-m-master."
Suddenly, there was a loud swishing noise from afar. Nagini slithered back over to the house very quickly.
"He has come, my lord! And he is not alone!" she hissed. "There is another boy with him!"
"Let's go, Wormtail," said Tom, and they set off for the graveyard.
Wormtail walked steadily towards the two boys standing between the graves in the darkness. He stopped beside the towering, marble headstone of Tom Riddle. The boy's wand suddenly slipped from his fingers as he brought his hand to his scar and shouted out in pain. He was now on the ground, and the older boy was standing alongside him, looking at him nervously.
"Kill the spare," Tom instructed Wormtail.
Wormtail raised a slightly shaking hand and pointed his wand at the older boy.
"Avada Kedavra!"
There was a blinding flash of green light that blasted the boy backwards.
"Hurry up!" hissed Tom and Wormtail quickly directed his wand at the boy who was now vomiting in the grass. The boy was pulled to his feet, dragged to the marble headstone, and slammed against it. Next, tight chords were conjured and tied themselves around him from neck to ankle. Wormtail gently laid Tom and his bundle of robes in the grass and then went to check the security of the boy's ropes. The boy seemed to be struggling to free himself and Wormtail hit him hard in the stomach to stop his fighting.
"You!" Tom heard the boy gasp, but Wormtail, who had finished with the ropes, did not reply. He seemed to be trembling uncontrollably as he fumbled over the knots of the ropes. Once sure that the boy was bound so tightly to the headstone that he couldn't move an inch, Wormtail drew a length of the black material from inside of his robe and stuffed it roughly inside the boy's mouth to keep him quiet. Then, he hurried away.
Nagini had come back with them and was now circling the headstone and hissing quite loudly. Tom did not bother listening to her words and simply waited as Wormtail, whose breathing was now fast and wheezy, pushed the stone cauldron to the foot of the grave. It was full of water that slopped around. Tom stirred. He was aching to get inside already, but did not have the strength to move on his own. He waited impatiently as Wormtail busied himself at the bottom of the cauldron with his wand. Suddenly, there were crackling flames beneath it. Nagini slithered away into the darkness, muttering something about "The Dark Lord will rise tonight—Nagini can't wait!"
The liquid in the cauldron seemed to heat very fast as the surface began to bubble and send out fiery sparks, as though it was on fire. Steam was thickening, blurring the outline of Wormtail tending the fire. Tom grew very agitated and stirred some more. The whole surface of the water was alight with sparks now.
"Hurry!" he cried, impatiently.
The time was very close now. Thirteen years of waiting were finally about to pay off. He was going to be resurrected tonight. It was inevitable. Tonight he would finally return. Finally, at last!
"Hurry!" he repeated in a slightly louder voice.
"It is ready, master!" said Wormtail finally.
"Do it, now!" hissed Tom.
Wormtail knelt down beside him and pulled open the robes on the ground, exposing Tom completely. The boy let out a muffled yell as Wormtail lifted Tom from the ground and carried him to the cauldron. Tom raised his thin and feeble arms and put them around Wormtail's neck. As he did so, Wormtail's hood fell back, revealing his weak, pale face in the firelight. And then, Wormtail lowered Tom into the cauldron. There was a hiss as Tom vanished into the liquid in the darkness of the cauldron. His thin, frail body hit the bottom with a light thud. It was strange to sit in water and not drown. Tom waited, listening to Wormtail's voice above.
"Bone of the father unknowingly given—you will renew your son."
There was what sounded like a loud crack—no doubt from the extracting of the bone from the grave. Seconds later, there was a loud sizzling as the bone was dropped into the cauldron. Tom instantly felt it collide with him and start to force its way into his very skin. The water seemed to be pushing the bone hard and soon, Tom felt muscles growing.
"F-f-f-flesh of the s-s-servant," said Wormtail's whimpering voice from above, "W-w-w-willingly g-given—you will r-r-revive your m-master."
Wormtail's hand drooped into the water, followed by his shriek of agony. Tom's vision was instantly blurred by a pool of red swirling all around him. He felt a kind of sizzling sensation and then warmth against his newborn skin.
"A-a-and blood of the enemy f-forcibly t-t-taken—you will resurrect your f-f-foe."
Something trickled into the water and everything suddenly became hot and white. The bubbles of the water were bursting uncontrollably and pushing and shoving Tom all around the cauldron. He felt as though he was being sliced over and over again. Tom suddenly felt his breathing grow easier—much easier than it had been in years. He was able to rise without the help of another. He was able to think more freely and to feel and smell and taste and hear.
"Robe me!" he called out to Wormtail. His eyes were closed for he was not yet ready to take in what had happened. He felt soft material pulled over his head and slide down to his legs. Tall and thin, he stepped out of the cauldron and finally opened his eyes. He knew they were red because they were burning like they had before, back when he'd still had his powers. He brought his long white fingers to his face and began to caress his features. They were skeletal and livid. His nose was flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils, like before. His eyes gleamed brightly through the darkness. Ignoring Wormtail's squirming in the corner, Tom held up his hands and flexed the fingers.
"Master, you're back!" Nagini was hissing at his feet, though he took no notice of her. She slithered around him once and then returned to his father's grave and began to circle it.
Tom took a few steps, enjoying the feeling of his new legs. He was barefooted and could feel every bit of the earth beneath him. The cool of the soft wind was very nice against his skin and his black robes flowed as he walked. Soon, he was standing just before Wormtail and let out a soft and very quiet chuckle.
"My wand, Wormtail."
His voice was very cold, high, and intricate—so very different from what he'd had in his rudimentary form.
Wormtail handed him his wand and Tom took hold of the delicate thing and caressed it tenderly.
"My lord," choked Wormtail. "You p-promised. You did promise."
"Hold out your arm," said Tom, lazily.
"Oh master, thank you, master!"
Wormtail held out the bleeding socket that was his arm. Tom then took notice of the fact that Wormtail's robes were completely soaked and drenched in his blood. But there was something that interested Tom even more. He felt offended even that Wormtail had assumed he would take care of him first.
"The other arm, Wormtail!" he snapped suddenly.
Wormtail's face grew very red with fright and anxiousness.
"Oh master, please, please!"
"Please!" Nagini repeated in mockery.
But Tom was not interested in Wormtail's pleas and simply forced the sleeves of Wormtail's good arm up and examined the black of the Dark Mark which was now writhing with excitement against his skin.
"Now we shall see," he murmured as he pressed the tip of his wand to the Dark Mark. "Now we shall know."
Tom straightened up, threw back his head, and stared around at the dark graveyard.
"How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it?" he said in a Parseltongue hiss.
"And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?" added Nagini with a kind of snort.
"Indeed," said Tom as he began to pace up and down, his eyes sweeping the graveyard all the while. After a minute or so, several wizards apparated, hooded and masked. Tom wondered for a moment why they had bothered with the masks, but then remembered Wormtail's tale about how they'd adapted the masks for the purposes of concealing themselves. They feared Tom more than ever now. Oh, the irony of it.
Tom stood in silence, waiting for them as they moved forwards, slowly and cautiously, making a kind of circle before the gravestone of his father. The formation was in the order of their pledged allegiance to him, and there were several gaps in the circle where the missing ones would be. Tom looked around at the hooded faces.
"Welcome, my Death Eaters," he announced in a tone of mockery. "Thirteen years it's been, and yet here you stand before me as though it were only yesterday. It is a disappointment to me." He stopped to sniff the cold of the night's air. "Smell the guilt? I do. There is a stench of guilt upon the air." He paused and stared around at each and every one of his main Death Eaters—the ones that had bothered to show up, that is. "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? And I answer myself; they must have believed me broken. They thought I was gone." He paused again and glared at them all, one by one. "They slipped back among my enemies and pleaded innocence and ignorance and bewitchment." Several of the wizards shifted uncomfortably at this. "And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? They who had seen proofs of the immensity of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living. And I answer myself; perhaps they believed still a greater power could exist—one that could vanquish even Lord Voldemort." Tom paused and a sneer crossed his face. He could not even suppress a laugh at the ridiculous thought that had now crossed his mind. "Perhaps," he said, in a slightly louder voice, "they now pay allegiance to another. Perhaps that champion of commons, of mudbloods, and of muggles—Albus Dumbledore."
The members of the circle stirred and some even dared to mutter or shake their heads in protest of this allegation.
"No?" said Tom in a mock surprise. "So you still care about me then?" His glare suddenly became more furious and he spoke his next words in a very quiet voice. "I confess myself disappointed."
"Let me slit one of their throats!" hissed Nagini from some distance away, but Tom ignored her. "Nagini hungry! Nagini smells blood! Nagini wants to taste!"
One of the men suddenly flung himself forwards, breaking the circle. Shaking from head to foot, he collapsed at Tom's feet and Tom glared down upon him, remembering him exactly as he had been before—remembering his stutter at the beginning, remembering his eagerness and dullness and stupidity and naivety, remembering his immaturity and amateurishness, remembering all those late night trophy room meetings and Hogwarts Express rides and Hogsmeade trips. . .
"Master!" he now cried, "Forgive me…forgive us all!"
Tom began to laugh his familiar cold laugh. So now he wanted forgiveness? Just like that? After thirteen years, he simply expected him to be merciful. He lay there, at Tom's feet, completely and shamefully ignorant, just like he had been back in their school days. Well, if he still didn't get the message now, perhaps a dose of pain…
"Crucio," said Tom simply, and the Death Eater writhed and shrieked suddenly. Tom only lifted the curse after a full minute and watched the Death Eater as he lay upon the ground, gasping.
"Get up, Avery," said Tom, finally. "Stand up; you ask for forgiveness. I do not forgive. I do not forget." Avery scrambled to his feet and stood before Tom, his head bowed low. "Thirteen long years. I want thirteen years repayment before I forgive you." Tom paused, and then waved his hand in front of Avery's face, forcibly pulling off his mask. Avery fell to his knees with shock at the sudden movement. Tom was disgusted with him. He turned to look at the other Death Eaters and moved towards one in particular… one whom he had been longing to speak to for ages.
"Not one of you tried to find me," he said aloud to the others as he approached this particular Death Eater. "Not one of my most trusted, most supposedly loyal followers—not even you, Lucius." He forced his mask off and Lucius too fell to his knees before Tom.
"My lord!" he whispered in a kind of panicky but hoarse voice, "Had I detected any signs or a whisper of your whereabouts—"
"There were signs, my slippery friend!" said Tom, angrily. "And more than whispers."
"Damn right!" hissed Nagini.
"I assure you, I have never renounced the old ways," said Lucius who now rose again and pulled off his hood so that he was facing Tom most confidently.
"Oh, I know that," said Tom, no doubt surprising him. "Wormtail tells me you present to the world a respectable face though still openly state that you are ready to take the lead in a spot of muggle torture. Yet, if you have not renounced the old ways, then you have renounced me?"
"Never!" hissed Lucius Malfoy. "I was constantly on the alert. Nothing could have prevented me from returning to you if I could only have found you!"
"And yet," said Tom, conversationally, "You ran from my mark that the faithful Death Eater sent into the sky last summer?" Lucius' face grew as white as his long hair. Tom smiled. "Oh yes, I know all about that, Lucius. You have disappointed me." He paused, trying to decide whether he should torture Lucius as well. Then, he remembered that Lucius had a son. It would be even more satisfying to torture him right before Lucius' eyes, as punishment. Tom sighed. "I expect more faithful service in future, Lucius."
"Of course, my lord, of course," said Lucius quickly, "You are most merciful. Thank you."
Tom moved on and stopped to stare at the space between Malfoy and Rowle.
"The Lestranges should be here," he said aloud, thinking of the rewards he would present them with when they were reunited. "But they are in Azkaban. They are faithful. They went to Azkaban rather than renounce me. When Azkaban is broken open, the Lestranges will be honoured beyond their dreams." He paused and smiled to himself. "The Dementors will join us. They are our natural allies." He turned to look at the rest of the group. "We will also recall the banished giants. I shall have all my devoted servants return to me and form an army of creatures who all fear."
He walked on, stopping before that sleazy Macnair who stood, just like the rest, with his mask and his hooded cloak and his head bowed.
"Oh, please let me bite into him!" Nagini hissed excitedly. "Please, Tommy boy, please!"
"Just a little longer, Nagini," said Tom, softly, and he turned to look at Macnair.
"Welcome back, friend," he said bitterly, throwing off Macnair's mask and kicking him to the ground.
"Please!" Macnair gasped.
"Don't know and don't care," said Tom, in a tone of mockery, "Those were the exact words, I believe."
Macnair crawled forwards and began to kiss the hem of Tom's black robes.
"Master, please!"
"But Wormtail tells me you have been destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry of Magic now," continued Tom. He looked down at Macnair and frowned. Torturing him might falter his ability to continue his work, and Tom was sure that the future would show need of it.
"You shall have better victims than that, soon enough," he concluded. "Lord Voldemort will provide."
"Thank you, master, thank you," said Macnair in a low voice.
"And here," said Tom, as he moved on to the two largest figures in the group, "We have Crabbe. You will do better this time, will you not, Crabbe? And you, Goyle?"
"Yes, master, we will, master," they murmured in unison.
"The same goes for you, Nott," said Tom, without even looking in his direction.
"My lord, I am your most faithful—"
"That will do," said Tom.
He reached the largest gap in the circle and stood, staring at it. One part of his mind was doing the math and the other was placing images of the faces side by side.
"And here," he said aloud to the group, "We have seven missing Death Eaters—three dead in my service...Hmmm...yes, Rosier too...and one too cowardly to return...Karkaroff..he will pay of course, and one who I believe has left me forever. He will be killed of course. And…oh yes, the one who remains my most faithful servant and who has already re-entered his service." Tom pursed his lips and began to caress his wand again. "He is at Hogwarts, that faithful servant, and it was through his efforts that I was able to be revived tonight."
"M-m-master," said Wormtail, suddenly. "M-master, w-w-what about m-m-me? I returned…?"
Tom spun around and glared at Wormtail.
"Out of fear," he corrected, "Not loyalty."
Wormtail began to sob again and together, he and Tom looked down upon the bleeding socket that was Wormtail's arm.
"You deserve this pain, Wormtail, you know that, don't you?" said Tom, quietly.
"Yes, master," said Wormtail, whimpering.
"Yet you helped me return to my body," Tom observed. "Worthless and traitorous as you are, you helped me." He stepped towards him. "And Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers."
In a swift and slow movement, Tom raised his wand and flicked it. A streak of silver erupted from the tip of the wand and formed itself into a gleaming replica of a human hand, bright as moonlight. It soared downwards and fixed itself upon Wormtail's bleeding wrist. He raised his head and stared with disbelief at his hand.
"My lord!" he cried and suddenly, his tears were not of pain and agony, but of shock and excitement and relief, "Master, it is beautiful! Thank you, thank you!"
He suddenly dropped to his knees and, like Macnair, kissed the hem of Tom's robes.
"May your loyalty never waver again, Wormtail," said Tom, quietly.
"No, my lord, never, my lord!" exclaimed Wormtail, and with Tom's blessing, he stood up and took his place in the circle.
Tom suddenly spotted a limp body lying sprawled on the grass just a few feet away. He slowly walked towards it and shifted the dirty face with his foot to get a better look.
"Oh," he said, quietly, feigning pity, "Such a handsome boy."
"Don't touch him!" grunted a voice from his left. Tom looked up in surprise and his gleaming red eyes immediately found the source of it.
"Harry!" he exclaimed, taking in the sight of the boy struggling against the rope tying him to the gravestone. Tom's eyes darted down to the piece of black material lying on the ground nearby, which was no doubt where the boy had spat it. The boy's wand lay not too far from it. Tom frowned for a split second, wondering how much time had passed since he'd been resurrected.
"I'd almost forgotten you were here," he said, conversationally, as he now moved closer to the boy, "You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father…a muggle and a fool." The boy struggled against the ropes again but Tom merely laughed his cruel laugh. "Very like your dear mother, no? And they both certainly had their uses, did they not?" The boy glared at him, which caused Tom to laugh again. He had dreamt of saying these words for over thirteen years. "Your mother died to defend you as a child, and I killed my father. See how useful he has proven himself in death." He laughed again and slowly paced around the circle. "Oh yes, useful indeed." Tom stopped suddenly, and pointed at the Riddle House in the distance, over the darkened cliff. "You see that house upon the hillside, Harry? My father lived there. My mother, a witch who lived here in the village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was. He didn't like magic, my father. He left her and returned to his muggle parents before I was even born. And she died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a muggle orphanage." Tom sneered. "But I vowed to find him. I took revenge of course against that filthy muggle fool who gave me his pathetic name, Tom Riddle…" Tom frowned and then gave a little chuckle. "Listen to me, reliving family history. Why, I'm growing quite sentimental. But Harry, you must understand. You are, after all, the Boy Who Lived, are you not?"
Tom drew himself right up to the boy so that their faces were inches away from each other. His red eyes glared at the emerald green ones and he sneered again.
"Oh how lies have fed your legend, Harry!" he said. "Shall I reveal what really happened that night, thirteen years ago? Shall I divulge in how I truly lost my powers?"
The boy struggled again and Tom moved away from him and into the center of the circle of Death Eaters as he now addressed them.
"It was love," he said. "You see, when dear sweet Lily Potter gave her life for her only son, she provided the ultimate protection, which meant that I could not touch him!"
The Death Eaters exchanged some looks and Tom nodded.
"Oh yes, shocking isn't it?" he said as he began to pace the circle. "I miscalculated, my friends, I admit it. My curse was deflected by the woman's foolish sacrifice and it rebounded upon me." He paused, remembering the night as though it were truly only yesterday. He remembered every crucial detail—every single bit of it. "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."
He turned to look at the boy now and directed his story at him, as a father would tell his son a bedtime story.
"It is a bedtime story, in a way," hissed Nagini as she slithered cleverly into the circle. "He will go to sleep tonight, won't he? Forever, I might add."
Tom ignored her, for this was far too important.
"What I was, even I do not know," he continued. "I, who have gone further than anybody upon the path that leads to immortality... But 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." He now thought of his Horcruxes, picturing each one in its hiding place. When an image of the diary came before him, he glared in Lucius' direction. Sensing this, Lucius bowed his head again and Tom turned back to the boy. "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 which might have helped me required the use of a wand."
The boy struggled against the ropes again and let out a few grunts and yells. Tom smiled.
"I only remember forcing myself, sleeplessly and endlessly, second by second, to exist. I settled myself in a distant forest. Thirteen years I waited, but it was all in vain. Only one power remained to me. I could possess the bodies of others. But I dared not go where humans were plentiful for I knew that the aurors were still abroad and searching for me." He paused, looking around the circle again. "I possessed the bodies of animals—snakes of course being the preference—but my possession shortened their lives. None of them lasted long. I returned with the help of a gullible fool 4 years ago, but he too did not last long and failed to help me steal the Philosopher's Stone. I was not to be assured of immortal life. I was thwarted—thwarted once again by Harry Potter."
Tom glared at the boy grunting and crying against the gravestone, fighting to pull himself free of the robes.
"Harry Potter," Tom repeated. "They call him my downfall. You could say that he is the guest of honor here tonight, at my rebirthing party." The Death Eaters smirked and laughed quietly amongst themselves. "Do you all like my plan? It has worked most successfully, has it not? My faithful Death Eater, stationed at Hogwarts, has ensured the boy's name was entered into the Goblet of Fire. He ensured that the boy won the tournament—that he touched the Triwizard cup first…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."
The Death Eaters' laughter was now growing louder with excitement.
"How was it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent was able to defeat me, you ask?" Tom continued. He was now smiling too. "Why, his mother left upon him the traces of her foolish sacrifice. It was old magic—something I should have foreseen, I admit. But no matter, no matter. Things have changed and I, Lord Voldemort, can touch him now."
And with that, Tom flung himself forwards, reached a finger and hit the boy's scar with it.
The shriek pierced through the darkness of the night, overpowering the laughter of the Death Eaters. Tom was beginning to yell too, though in a manner of victory rather than anything else. He felt a powerful surge overwhelming him. He felt his finger on the boy's scar burning, not from pain, but from glory. After several long seconds, he finally removed his hand and glared up at the boy.
"Astonishing what a few drops of your blood will do, eh Harry?" he said, smirking.
A rage of fury was beginning to overwhelm him now and he frowned.
"You call this thing here my downfall, do you?" he said aloud to the other Death Eaters, though he kept his back to them and continued to glare up at the boy. "But make no mistake of this. Harry Potter escaped me by a lucky chance and I am going to prove my power to you by killing him…here and now, where there is no mother to die for him and no Dumbledore to help him."
The boy started to say something but Tom moved away in a sudden movement and flicked his wand in the air, causing the ropes to release the boy at once. The boy stumbled to the floor in shock and, instinctively, the Death Eaters hurried out of the way to watch.
"Pick up your wand, Potter!" yelled Tom, who was now feeling very angry. He would, at long last, show the world how truly wrong it had been in assuming that the Dark Lord could be conquered by anyone, much less a pathetic nobody. "I said, pick it up! Go on, get up!"
The boy reached for his wand, which lay upon the grass near the grave, and slowly got to his feet, though he did not point it at Tom but merely stood, looking as frightened as all of Tom's victims did in the last few minutes of their lives.
"You have been taught to duel, I presume, yes?" said Tom, eagerly. "First, we bow to each other." He glanced over at Nagini, winked, and then—to the horror of his audience—he bowed low to his nemesis. He waited a few seconds and then looked up to find that the boy was staring at him with both confusion and fear.
"Come now, Harry, the niceties must be observed!" said Tom, simply. "Dumbledore wouldn't want you to forget your manners, would he? I said, bow!"
He pointed his wand at the boy who squirmed in pain as he was forced to bow by the imperius curse.
"That's better, now!" shouted Tom as the laughter of the Death Eaters grew louder.
"Crucio!"
The boy fell to the floor and began to shout and shriek in pain as he trembled and writhed upon the grass.
"Won't you beg me to kill you yet?" yelled Tom, who was now laughing openly. "Won't you beg me to end it for you yet? Come now; say the words, Harry Potter: Kill me, Lord Voldemort. Make it stop. Kill me now, kill me!"
"NO!" shouted the boy.
Tom froze and the curse was lifted at once.
The boy rolled in the grass, his eyes rolling in their sockets and his breathing loud and heavy.
"No?" said Tom softly, who was very interested in this new objection. "Perhaps another dosage of pain then?"
The next round had the boy shrieking so loudly that his voice eventually died away. The Death Eaters laughed like they hadn't laughed in years. It was almost as though they were back at the wedding celebration of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy once again. When Tom finally lifted the curse, the boy lay in the grass with tears streaming down his eyes. Tom moved forwards and knelt down beside him so that he could meet his eyes.
"I am going to kill you, Harry Potter," he said in a low, soft voice. "I am going to destroy you. After tonight, no one will ever again question my powers. After tonight, if they speak of you, they'll speak only of how you begged for death, and I, being the merciful lord…obliged."
He then jumped up and flicked his wand again, forcing the boy to his feet as well. Now he would show everyone. Now they would duel and now, his Death Eaters would find out which was the better wizard. Tom walked towards the gravestone of his father to make some distance between himself and the boy. However, when he turned around, he glimpsed the boy hide behind another tombstone, and in a violent rage of anger, Tom shouted a curse at him which caused a chunk of the tombstone to break apart.
"DON'T YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ME, HARRY POTTER! I WANT YOU TO LOOK AT ME WHEN I KILL YOU! I WANT TO SEE THE LIGHT LEAVE YOUR EYES!"
Tom waited, all the while pointing his wand at the space where the boy had hidden. Finally, the boy got to his feet and turned around to face Tom. For a moment, they stood, staring at each other through the misty darkness. And then, quite suddenly, the boy shouted Expelliarmus and Tom shouted Avada Kedavra.
A jet of green light issued from Tom's wand just as a red light blasted from the boy's. They met in midair and suddenly, Tom's wand was vibrating. A narrow beam of light was now connecting the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright deep blue. Shimmering sparks of light shot out of the beam as it splintered. Tom stared around, confused. The curse had never before had that effect.
Tom could hear his Death Eaters shouting for instructions, but it was as though they were from a very far away distance. On the contrary however, they were closing in, reforming the circle around Tom and the boy, with Nagini slithering at their heels. Some of them, to Tom's horror, even dared to draw out their wands.
"DO NOTHING!" Tom bellowed at them. "HE'S MINE TO FINISH!"
But the vibrating of his wand was so powerful now that he could almost feel in grasping from his fingers. His long-fingered hands gripped it harder and he tried to suppress the astonishment in his eyes as he fought to break the thread of light connecting the wands. He surveyed the misty darkness in front of him and found that the boy too looked surprised beyond anything. So whatever was happening, the boy had not intended it.
The bright blue light now started to form a web around the two. It was as though large beads of light were sliding up and down the thread connecting the wands. Tom felt his wand shudder angrily and he yelled out loud. The wand was growing hotter beneath his fingers, as though about to burst into flame. He was starting to fear that for the first time it might break on him. But he could not understand it. It had never failed him before, so why now?
Tom forced all of his concentration on the boy—on trying to direct the beads of light travelling up and down the thread towards him. But out of the corner of his eye, Tom spotted Lucius Malfoy moving closer with his wand raised in the air.
"HE'S MINE!" Tom yelled at the top of his lungs, and Lucius froze.
Suddenly, to Tom's great horror, his wand began to emit screams and shouts of pain and agony. His red eyes widened with shock as a dense, smoky hand flew out of the tip of his wand and vanished into the thin air—the ghost of the hand he had made for Wormtail. Seconds later, there were more shouts of pain and then, a great grayish something began to force itself out of the vibrating wand until it broke free and settled itself up in the air just above but inside the web of light connecting Tom and the boy. Tom gazed up at the figure and recognised it immediately as the spare he had killed only moments ago. It took several seconds for Tom to realise that the ghost of this boy was talking to Potter, though Tom could not hear a single word of it. Suddenly, his wand repeated its strange behavior from a moment ago and Frank Bryce, the nosy muggle caretaker, flew out and landed up in the air, not far from the ghostly boy. He too, began to speak to Potter.
Bertha Jorkins came out next, bringing a new shattering vibration to the wand between Tom's slippery fingers. He yelled again, trying to break free from the connection between his wand and the boy's. But then, as though in response to his yell, two silvery blue lights erupted from his wand like cannonballs and settled themselves on either side of the boy. Tom did not need to squint through the darkness to recognise them as the boy's dead parents. They too, were talking to him, shouting instructions Tom could not make sense of. The wand began slipping and sliding beneath his fingers and he held it tighter, refusing to be unarmed.
As though in an effort to distract Tom, Bertha Jorkins suddenly appeared before him and began to wail and sob, just as she had in the last few seconds of her life. The muggle did the same and so did the ghostly boy. They each mocked their own death scenes, replaying them right before Tom's very eyes. He looked over at the boy and found that he was puzzled, no doubt unable to hear what Tom was hearing. The screams and the shouts flooded Tom's ears and it was all he could hear—the shouts of his Death Eaters were completely drowned now. Visions of that night, thirteen years ago, were appearing before him now. He saw himself hiding under the bench again, watching the horrific scene of his Death Eaters being rounded up by aurors—the Lestranges shouting and laughing cruelly, mothers wailing at the sights of their dead children, and ministry workers shouting angrily.
And then, the bright blue thread broke, the web vanished, and Tom glimpsed the boy one last time before everything became a solid white. All sound and sight was drained out. It was as though Tom had been locked in a big white box full of everything white. Fear suddenly found its way into the box as Tom shuddered at the thought of his possibly having just died. It was not possible, with the existence of his Horcruxes, was it? Magic had so often managed to surprise him but this was most certainly not possible.
Then, back came the realization of where he was. Back came the sounds of the Death Eaters shouting and Nagini hissing violently somewhere. Back came the knowledge of what had just happened and, at long last, back came Tom's vision. The misty white disappeared abruptly and Tom looked around the once again dark graveyard. There was the tombstone of his father. There was the circle of Death Eaters, all of them staring at him with shock and fear. There was Nagini, slithering at their heels. There was the cauldron from the rebirthing ceremony. But the body of the boy he had killed, the shiny Triwizard Cup that was a portkey, and most importantly, his nemesis—they had all vanished.
And Tom was left with nothing but the knowledge that he had once again failed to kill Harry Potter.
Additional Note: Next chapter, which I will update as soon as I can, will be called "The Prophecy Again" and for the next couple of chapters, it will all be canon but dialogue from my imagination completely.
And also, wow I have now reached 5000 views. Thank you so very much for reading! Really appreciated!