DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.

CHAPTER 69

Harry felt center of the maze draw nearer as a faint thrum of power rippled through the air so he picked up the pace hastening to reach the end when he came across a set of steps that seemed to lead into the very heart of the ground itself.

Pausing for a moment at the edge of the first step, Harry closed his eyes and stood absorbing the final moments of this drawn out battle and savoring the sweet sensation of finality.

Stepping down cautiously, he silently made his way into the very bowels of the earth when he suddenly saw the walls emanate a glow from the thousands of crystals embedded inside it. It was a beautiful sight to behold as the different colors bounced off the surfaces of the maze almost lighting a pathway for him.

Not daring to touch the crystals in case they triggered off a trap, Harry finally came to last step and looking around he saw a huge hall with tall arches and pillars open up before his eyes and right at the center of it stood a golden trophy.

Walking towards it feeling euphoric and triumphant, Harry suddenly heard a noise come from the opposite end of the room, glancing towards it he stopped short and a huge grin broke into his face. Standing on the other side of the room was Darren, sporting a similar challenging smile!

"On the count of three" Darren mouthed and Harry nodded, "one…two…three.." the two brothers tore towards the trophy laughing and panting happily and by sheer dumb luck they touched it simultaneously lighting up the room with a bright glow.

They were beaming at each other happily when they felt a sudden tug at their navels and found themselves spinning out of the room while clutching the trophy desperately.

Harry felt a terrible fear creep upon him and wondered what fresh hell were they going to be witness to now?

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Slamming onto the ground the brothers helped each other up and looked around finding themselves standing at the edge of a graveyard when Harry felt his mouth completely dry up when he read a large sign above their heads that said "Welcome to Little-Hangleton."

"Well, well, well, if it isn't both the Potter boys" they heard a sniveling voice coming from somewhere to their side and before they could do anything they found themselves being ripped apart and held by rough hands.

Turning around to look at his assailants face, Harry felt a shudder of disbelief pass through him when he saw that it was Lucius and Snape with their faces were partially covered by black cloaks, holding him in a tight grip. "Don't fight Harry it'll hurt less" Snape said softly with a hint of menace.

Harry felt something break inside him and he hissed "Traitor!" almost snapping at them like an animal he abruptly turned back to the front to look at Darren when he found him being held by Bellatrix and her ugly husband looking just as defeated and scared as Harry felt.

Bellatrix ran a long, blood red nail down the side of Darren's face and then pressed her wand into his side almost laughingly saying 'Crucio.' Darren convulsed in their hands keening with pain struggling hard to break free when she laughed and tightened her grip on him digging her nails into his skin.

Harry felt a growl rise from deep within him when he saw his twin struggle and almost felt his suffering as if it were his own. He wanted to claw out the eyes of that vicious woman and feed it to Nobert , trying to break free from his own captors.

After a few agonizing minutes the sick witch casually lifted the spell and let Darren sag limply in their hands sweat pouring off of his body. Then he lifted his head with difficulty and looked straight at Harry his eyes burning with great determination and defiance. The message was clear "Do. Not. Give. In. To. Them."

Harry felt his brother's courage seep into him and concentrating let out a tiny bit of his magic causing both Snape and Lucius to leap away as if stung and without wasting a single second Harry moved faster than anyone could even register and ran to Darren stunning both of his captors quickly when someone caught his robes from behind and pulled him back.

Fighting like crazy person, Harry inched towards the now crumpling Darren and shoved him towards the portkey, causing him to almost impale himself on the trophy before he suddenly disappeared with it. Harry out of relief forgot to keep fighting and found him-self being dragged away by nearly five death eaters into the treacherous looking cemetery.

"What have you done!" Wormtail moaned, coming close to Harry's face looking mutinous and worried "The dark lord will kill me!"

"Then die, as you should have long ago coward" Harry said dispassionately, knowing that the end was near.

Wormtail cuffed him on his head and snatched his wand away "It will be your blood then that will bring him back" Wormtail snarled, pulling out an almost blunt knife and dug it viciously into Harrys forearm ruthlessly breaking his skin and causing him searing pain making him clench his teeth while he tried uselessly to escape from the mass of death eaters "Don't do it" Harry said through the haze of pain "No one will live Wormtail, no one."

Ignoring Harry's desperate pleas he collected his blood with his wand and walked up determinedly to what looked like a coffin and letting drops of Harry's blood seep through the wood of the lid of the coffin and then cried out into the darkening sky, "Rise master, and proclaim your rightful place in the world" Wormtail said, looking both fearful and happy.

There was not a sound to be heard for a few minutes when suddenly the coffin started to rattle and then shattered into a million pieces forcing everyone to look away. Turning back apprehensively Harry saw a shadowy figure emerge from the mist and laid his eyes upon a snakelike man whose cold visage sent bolts of pain and fear running endlessly through his body and felt the weight of his power bear down on him like a rampaging hippogriff.

"Wormtail…" a high unnatural voice came from deep within voldemort "This is not the Potter boy that I wanted! This one is the spare!"

Wormtail stood shaking like a leaf beside him and said "Darren potter managed to escape from us my Lo…Lord."

Voldemort tutted and without so much as sparing a glance at the trembling minion he said, "I'll deal with you later" and then walked around deliberately forcing every one of his death eaters to his or her knees. Until he came to Harry and stopped 'Incarcerous' Voldermort said using a borrowed wand binding Harry up in tight ropes that nearly cut through his skin while draining his magic from him, weakening him to the point where he could barely move.

"Pity you had to take the place of your brother" Voldemort said softly and stood so close to Harry that he could see the very fires of hell blaze in his eyes "A real pity indeed but you will make a fine present to him when you are dead maybe wrapped up beautifully as proof that his time will come soon" Voldemort said dreamily as if in lost in some weird fantasy and then he suddenly snapped out of it and walked away.

"Are all my death eaters here?" Voldermort asked, when Bellatrix who had been revived spoke with a sickly sweet clawing voice "Yes my Lord, I summoned them minutes before the ritual had begun"

"You used my mark?"

"Yes my Lord, as your subordinate I was able to summon them and since you were dead…"

Vlodemort shrieked and backhanded her with powerful blow his eyes sparking with a deranged glint "I never died! I can never die" he crowed triumphantly "You dare insinuate any weakness…"

"Never my Lord!" Bellatrix cried out looking truly horrified now and clutching a throbbing face"You are the strongest wizard ever to be born!"

"Yes I am and never forget that my sweet Bella I who have conquered death itself will never be weak! What happened to me was an aberration a small miscalculation, but never again!"

"Yes my Lord" Bellatrix said looking properly chastened her dark eyes lit with adoration for her master.

"Give me his wand" Voldemort said abruptly turning away from the fawning witch and held out his hand to Wormtail, "I will be sending my first message to the world of my second coming with your death Potter, with your wand of course" he said almost businesslike and snatched the wand from Wormtail impatiently.

Harry who was lying helplessly on the floor unable to do anything to stop his impending death saw Voldemort fingering his wand and suddenly felt a bone deep disgust so strong he almost retched. 'Mine' came a strong whisper from within his mind 'His filthy hands on what's mine!' A rage so strong, so overpowering rolled over him and suddenly Harry saw his wand start shaking in Voldemort's hands who was looking at it in astonishment when it burst in to blue flames and disappeared!

Everyone stood shocked looking at Voldemorts empty hands not paying any attention to Harry who felt his wand reappear within his own hands giving him renewed strength and then looking right at Voldemort he said quietly "Not today you won't Tom" and disapparated with a loud pop.

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Harry landed in a crumpled heap in Hogsmaede and using magic managed to remove the bindings around his hands and legs feeling the blood recirculate painfully through them.

Trying to stand up, Harry almost fell over a second time when he felt rough hands grasp him from behind. Turing around wildly, he saw Professor Snape and began thrashing like a madman when Snape stunned him.

Opening his eyes slowly while trying to stop the throbbing in his head, Harry slowly pushed himself up on his elbows and saw that he was lying on the ground in what looked like a passage.

"Whe..where…?"

"Shhh!" He heard the almost soothing voice of Snape tide over him and felt his skin crawl.

"What do you want you traitor? Come to finish your master's job?"

"My my!" Snape said drily "Always one for dramatics weren't you Potter?"

"I know what I saw" Harry said harshly.

Snape had his back turned to Harry so he could not see his face when he said softly "What we see sometimes is not the truth Potter."

"Then what is Sir?" Harry said defiantly, making the 'Sir' sound like the worst insult.

"I…I am the last man on this planet who would see that monster return" came his Professor's low voice and then Snape turned around and Harry saw with a gasp, a terrible anguish in the man's eyes, so deep and soul wrenching that he had to look away.

"The..then why? Why were you there with them?"

"Because I play a deadly game for our side of the war Potter, a traitor and spy yes; not for that madman, but for Dumbledore."

"Why?" Harry whispered, truly horrified now, knowing that the retribution would be terrible if he were caught.

"Let's just say that I'm not a complete bastard and leave it at that shall we? Now is not the time for a heart to heart anyway and I should not have told you so much of the truth as it is."

"Then why did you?"

"Because today you earned my respect Potter, you fought like a warrior and stood your own ground. I don't know how and I still can't believe it, but I feel I owe you that much."

Harry nodded numbly and felt a prickle at the corner of his eyes "I…I was afraid" he confessed shamefacedly and hung his head low "I acted out of fear."

"Then you're not an idiot, if you hadn't felt fear you would not be human" Snape snapped and roughly pulled Harry to his feet.

"Walk further down this corridor, it leads right into Hogwarts itself" he said and shoved Harry gently towards the exit retreating into the shadows himself.

"What about you Sir?"

"Dumbledore will know where I was by now, so I will wait till the commotion at school has lessened somewhat."

"Okay" Harry said and almost crawled towards Hogwarts, dragging his battered body with him.

Ooooooooooooooo