Chapter 45

"You!"

Harry saw the hand with the missing finger as the hooded man bound him tighter to the tombstone. Wormtail didn't respond, and once Harry was tied too tightly to have a chance of escape the traitor focused on preparing a giant stone cauldron. Near the base of it lay a bundle that moved impatiently and Harry could see a gigantic snake slithering around. For a moment he was afraid it was another basilisk, although he could see it was different than what was in the Chamber of Secrets. But even if it had been a basilisk Harry would have been less afraid of that than what was in the bundle. Some intuition, plus the pain in his scar, told him that bundle couldn't be allowed to be opened.

Watching in horror, Harry saw Wormtail finish preparing the cauldron and then go for the bundle. Harry could have vomited. Inside that bundle of robes was something that looked every bit as twisted and evil on the outside as Voldemort was on the inside. Wormtail put it in the cauldron, and all Harry could think of was how desperate he was to have the thing drown. But when had he ever been lucky enough for that to happen?

"I wish I could tell you more," Cedric said tiredly. "The last thing I saw before being stunned was someone with their face hidden in a hood. They were in the shadows and aimed their wand at me and the next thing I know I woke up here in the hospital wing."

"Can't you remember anything else? Anything at all different about the man who attacked you and Harry?" Remus pleaded. It had taken a lot of effort to convince the normally rational man that that searching for Harry would do no good until they knew where to search, especially since Sirius agreed with Remus.

"No- ! I didn't think of it until now, but his hand-"

Remus and Sirius shot each other a look before turning back to Cedric.

"What about his hand?" Sirius asked.

"It was missing a finger. Does that mean anything to you?"

Cedric was confused at the sudden extra amount of panic on their faces.

The newly resurrected Voldemort had finished asking and answering himself why his followers hadn't done anything to find him. The group that had assembled in a shadow of swishing cloaks cringed. Avery flung himself at Voldemort and pleaded forgiveness, and Wormtail actually had the stupidity to remind Voldemort that he'd helped him return. But after humiliating him, Voldemort did 'reward' him with a silver hand to replace the one he'd sacrificed to bring his master back to power.

"You know, of course, that they have called this boy my downfall?" Voldemort said once he had finished listing how he was going to punish or reward his various followers. Then he went into the story of what had happened over the course of the years, Wormtail running into Berths Jorkins and bringing her to Voldemort so she couldn't tell anyone she'd seen him. Voldemort bragged about using the information she had given him once he's broken through her destroyed memory, and he bragged about how he could now touch Harry. He proved the point by touching Harry, causing his scar to feel like it was on fire. Then Voldemort stepped back, aimed his wand at Harry, and the real pain came.

"Crucio!"

Now they knew for sure this wasn't as simple as Karkaroff entering Harry to try to get him killed. As much as he'd enjoyed torturing others, as many death eater activities as he'd taken part in, he wasn't involved in this. Or if he was, he wasn't the only one. This was much worse. Wormtail had rejoined Voldemort as Trelawny had predicted and now the traitor had taken Harry to Voldemort himself. But where?

Together, Remus, Sirius, and Dumbledore went over the places Voldemort had a connection to. The other members of the Order had been contacted, and Tonks had used the floo to reach the Aurors she knew would take this as seriously as it was, the ones who were willing to believe Voldemort wasn't gone for good the way everyone hoped he was. Finally they were assembled and divided into groups. The two Marauders had to be almost physically restrained to keep them from leaving immediately and Dumbledore had to remind them they wouldn't be doing Harry any good if they got themselves captured too.

"But Harry could be dead by the time we find him!"

Sirius shouted the thought, although it had been on Remus's mind too. He'd been trying to avoid thinking it ever since Harry had disappeared.

Dumbledore looked as worried as the rest of them, but didn't say anything accept to continue dividing the into groups.

"Remus, Sirius, Kingsley, Miss Tonks- you will search little Hangleton. Check the Riddle Manor and Gaunt Cottage."

With a nod, they left the boundaries of Hogwarts and Disapparated.

Harry had not given Voldemort the satisfaction of saying he wanted the torture to stop, and he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing him show fear. He wasn't going to hide, uselessly drawing out the time until the fatal curse came. If he was going to die, he was going to die with dignity, facing his opponent and at least trying to fight back. He stood and aimed his wand at Voldemort, and the two spells were said at the same time.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

Only stopping long enough to cast a "Honminum revealo," the four checked Riddle Manor first since it seemed like it would fit Voldemort's delusions of grandeur more than a cottage. Nobody was there. They stepped back outside, feeling discouraged, when Kingsley noticed a strange light.

"What's that down below the hill? In the graveyard there?"

There in the darkness, they could see two figures connected by a thread of gold and surrounded by four shadowy spirits. It wasn't hard to guess, even at a distance, who one of those figures had to be. And they all hoped they were wrong about who the second figure was, even though they knew they weren't.

"When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments…But we can give you time…You must get to Padfoot, Moony, and the others with them. Grab the Portkey together and it will take you safely to Hogwarts," the echo of James Potter instructed.

Harry was surprised to hear him say to get to them. He hadn't heard the others calling, and now turning his head just slightly, he could see them coming towards him, sending stunners to take down as many death eaters as possible. And casting shielding charms as they came. As grateful as he was to see them, he was more afraid of what could happen to them now that they were there. Now more lives were in danger besides his own. But the spirits, shadows, or whatever they were, were closing in around Voldemort to hide the others from the evil wizard's view. The two living Marauders now saw the specters clearly though, and nearly forgot they were in the middle of a battle at the sight.

Sirius looked at them open and silently mouthed the names "Prongs" and "Lily." Remus looked choked and was unable to find words. The figures of their two lost friends looked at them warmly then turned towards their son.

"Harry now! Run!" James ordered.

Harry let the connection between the wands break and ran as fast as he could, ignoring his injured leg even though it nearly gave out on him three times. He didn't pause to look back at the specters closing in around Voldemortor to hear the two Aurors gasp or exclaim "It's him! He's really back!" He barely noticed the spells being fired back and forth. He had to reach the others so they could summon the Portkey and grab it together.

His leg gave out just as he reached them. He didn't see who it was who caught him, but after everything that had happened he would have loved to just let himself fall and black out. He couldn't yet though. The others were still in danger. He aimed a few "Impedimenta" jinxes at the oncoming death eaters.

Sirius would have loved a chance to take down a few death eaters any other time, but not now. Now he had something more important to deal with, getting Harry to safety. In a second the cup was summoned and five hands touched it. Harry felt the pull behind his naval, as well as arms around him that didn't let go even after they slammed into the ground back at Hogwarts.

"Cedric?" Harry asked as soon as he knew they were safe. He'd heard the stunning jinx used against Cedric and knew that wasn't too harmful, but he wanted to be sure Cedric wasn't hurt.

"He'll be fine. He's a bit sore, but nothing he won't recover from. You're worse off than he is right now," Kingsley assured him.

Remus started trying to examine Harry's leg while Sirius tried to see what else was wrong. Both of the men were shaking, and that was when Harry started to shake too. Voldemort was back to his old power. Even with people who loved him trying to comfort and help him, he knew none of them would really be safe now.

AN: Still having writing trouble. I know I probably left off at a bad place to stop, but in the next chapter the loose ends for this part of the story will be tied up, Crouch Jr's plan will be made known to the others and all that, plus the typical stupidity from Fudge. I'll have a few touching moments and one moment of someone getting a little payback I think you'll all like. So hopefully it will be better than this. Then on to Order of the Phoenix, which I'm really looking forward to since I have some parts already in my head that I know I'll have fun writing. Thanks for sticking with me and thanks as always to my reviewers and PadyandMoony.