And here's the update for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord". Enjoy!

* Review response:
geetac, Shattering, Penny is wise, Gruffard, god of all, ElementalMaster16, The Swordslinger, Wolfang21, daniboy95, shugokage, tchizek, trispectrum, Guest#1 Guest#2, thank you for your reviews, folks!
El Pirato, ShadowCub, Silverstargirl, skywiseskychan, Cedric will survive.
Fritter, it will be so in this chapter as well, unfortunately...

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"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"powered speech / true prophecies by the seer"
"spells / parseltongue"
messages

chapter 72: Revival of the Dark Lord

Of course, the first thing Harry tried to do when he realized that he had been abducted from Hogwarts and brought to some cemetery god knows where was apparating away. He didn't actually care where to – he picked Diagon Alley as one of the main hubs of the Magical Britain – he just needed to get away from here... Hopefully, Cedric would follow the lead and escape to some safe place as well...

Alas, that was not to be as the moment the young Potter tried to apparate, he slammed into a powerful ward place there to prevent such an escape. Having failed with that, the green-eyed teen tried to make use of the portkeys built into his lordship rings, only to find that those wouldn't work as well. Even the Goblet itself wouldn't transport him anywhere... Then again, did he really expect the one to kidnap him to give him such an easy way out?

"Your s-s-struggle is amus-s-sing, but it ends-s-s-s here." A new, hissing and not really human voice spoke. Turning his head around, Harry finally noticed a dark cloaked figure standing next to a large tombstone around thirty yards away. In its hands, the said figure was holding a bundle the size of a young child, yet whatever was in that bundle was the one who had spoken right now. And then it spoke again: "Wormtail!" So the cloaked one was Peter Pettigrew, Harry though, which meant that the bundle contained whatever temporary body Tom Riddle, better known as lord Voldemort, managed to procure for himself...

"Yes, Master." Wormtail replied, before jabbing his wand towards the ground. Then he ducked away behind the monument to escape the spellfire the real Hogwarts champion sent his way... Maybe a second later a large runic array started glowing underneath Harry's and Cedric's feet. It took the green-eyed teen a couple of moments to recognize what this array was: the 'Warlock's fall', a runic trap designed to capture a specified magical and annihilate anyone else within its range. And it was not something one could quickly create as setting this array up took no less than a week... This meant that the unauthorized portkey in the Goblet of Fire was a part of some elaborate plan, which most definitely required his – Harry's – presence as the young Potter highly doubted that Voldemort was after Diggories at the moment.

And while the area covered by the runic trap wasn't big enough to make running away theoretically impossible, the barrier around the edge did. And this barrier was made in such a way that nothing 'alive' could pass through it from inside out – in other words, even if there were methods to deceive this rather simplistic barrier, there was not enough time to save them both. And since his life wasn't in as much danger as Cedric's, Harry decided that will save the Hufflepuff teen.

"I'm sorry for this." He said and, before the real Hogwarts champion could say anything at all, cast a spell at him: "Vitai arresto temporale!" Technically, this piece of magic was considered to be dark for a few centuries now and, thus, was lost in time and couldn't be found in the modern books. And even in Salazar's time, it wasn't widely known anyway... What this spell did was placing the target into death-like state until a proper counter was applied. But should it not be lifted in an allotted time-frame or should the original caster die, the one under the effects of this spell would die as well.

Cedric's body immediately went limp as if he suddenly became a marionette with its strings cut, but before he could collapse onto the ground, Harry used a powerful banishing charm to send him out of the trap. Thankfully, the green-eyed teen didn't make any mistakes in his plan, and the barrier indeed assumed Mr. Diggory to be a non-living entity and allowed him through.

Pointing his wand at the Hufflepuff's body, the young Potter was about to cast the counter-curse that would release the older boy from the death-like state he was currently in, but the fates decided that it was not to happen: the runic flashed brightly and Harry's world went black...

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Back at Hogwarts, the wizards and witches watching the final task of the Triwizard tournament were quite confused when the two champions that managed to reach the center of the maze suddenly disappeared when they touched the Goblet of Fire. And this confusion had turned into a very real panic when the said two champions didn't re-appear anywhere the people could see them. Of course, Dumbledore and the other organizers of this cursed tournament tried to tell the crowds that they should all remain calm, but that didn't work all that well and the panic continued.

Amidst of that panic, Barty Crouch Jr. disguised as Alastor Moody remained as calm as someone who was about to complete a very important task could be. He had already sent the Potter brat to his Master and while the young Mr. Diggory tagging along wasn't in his plan, in the end it couldn't affect anything...

With that part of the plan accomplished, he now needed to deal with that blood-traitor bitch the brat had dared to name the lady Slytherin. Once that girl was no more, there will be nothing to keep his Master from getting back the power and titles that were rightfully his.

Tapping a small magical device with his wand, the disguised Death Eater sent the signal to the number of weak-minded fools he had placed under the Imperius curse earlier today. He would rather not do that right under Dumbledore's long nose, but with how suspicious of him the Potter's bitch became in the recent days, he felt that this was the only way. Plus, he used he no-name-wizards' own wands for this task, so only the best of the unspeakables will ever be able to determine whose orders those fools were following.

A few moments later a number of colorful curses were launched from different tribunes towards the one where Draconica Slytherin was sitting. Of course, from such a great distance the accuracy of those spells was far from great, but a few of them still hit their intended target. Or at least they would have had, if not for a hastily thrown magical shield that the girl had created in front of herself. Still, that shield was not all that great and with Moody's artificial eye Crouch could see that the girl's shield was straining to its limits as it kept the curses from reaching its creator.

With the chaos spreading around thanks to these orchestrated attacks on Potter's bitch, it was Crouch's time to act. And since he didn't have much time until the no-names he had placed under the Imperius curse were subdued by the crowd, he needed to act fast. Thus, the disguised Death Eater started hobbling towards the section of the tribunes where the Draconica Slytherin was as fast as someone on a peg leg could...

It took him some time to get to his destination, but he was finally there. And it was time for the second part of his plan to take the Potter's bitch down begin. Covertly sending the signal for the rest of the Imperius'ed weak-minded fools to attack the girl, he jumped to stand next to her, his magical shield fending off the incoming barrage of multi-colored curses.

"Lady Slytherin." The fake Moody said, trying to sound like he cared about her well-being as much as he could. "Someone is making an attempt at your life. Remaining here isn't safe for you, but it also places the others in danger as well." Well, that was quite true... "Please allow me to escort to some safer place." Crouch Jr. offered as he maintained the magical shield that prevented the curses from reaching anyone still on the tribune.

Given how she had counted no less than fifteen separate casters trying to off her, she had naturally come to a conclusion that there had to be a mastermind orchestrating this attack. And, furthermore, it didn't feel like her fa-... like lord Malfoy's work: he was more subtle than this even at his worst. That, coupled with Harry's suspicions of Moody not being Moody... Anyhow, the old auror, whether he was the real deal or not, was right: it was not safe for her to remain here.

"Very well." The blond beauty agreed, as she dropped her own magical shield and proceeded towards the nearest exit from the tribune. She didn't go much further than that. For one, there might be more wannabe-killers waiting for her down there. That, and given Harry's suspicions about Moody, she'd rather have him where she could see him... The ex-auror didn't make her wait for him for too long.

"You aren't a fool that rushes forward with little thought about her own safety, good." He huffed with some hints of approval in his voice. "But, while you may no longer be on the line of fire, you are still far from the safety, lady Slytherin. I shall escort you to the castle, where no ill-wisher that hides among the audience right now will be able to reach you." With those words Crouch disguised as Moody continued to hobble down the stairs that led out of the tribune. And since so far she could not find any reason to distrust him, Draconica followed the imposter.

The two of them quickly exited the tribunes and then headed towards the castle. Given how aggressive her attackers had been a couple of minutes ago, the blond beauty found it a little bit suspicious that no one tried to snipe her as she and the fake Moody were crossing the open area between the quidditch pitch and the castle doors. But then again, it was possible that the aurors and other fighters that had been observing the task had already deal with all those bastards...

As soon as they passed through the front doors of the Hogwarts castle, the peg-legged man headed towards the commonly-unused rooms located on the ground floor of he eastern wing. Now, even Draconica was finding this to be kind of suspicious: she'd have thought that everyone on the staff knew that she and Harry had personal quarters that were adequately protected and bringing her there was a logical thing to do... That, and because those rooms on the first floor were unused, there were no portraits in them, hence there would be no witnesses, should something bad happen to her. Not to mention that given how rare those rooms were cleaned, it might take a few days before a body dumped there would be discovered...

"This one should do." The fake Moody said as he stopped in front of one of the many doors and kicked it open. "No one looking for you will find you there." The killing intent that was leaking into the man's voice was the only warning Draconica got before she was roughly grabbed by her neck and thrown into the room. "Yes, no one will find you here, wench!" The man wearing Moody's face hissed as he stalked towards her, his wand pointed at her face. "Crucio!" The young witch, who was trying to get back onto her feet, promptly collapsed back onto the floor screaming in pain as her body was shackled by unimaginable agony. "Do you like this pain, bitch? Do you?" The fake DADA professor asked as kept the downed girl under his curse. "Too bad, I can't properly show you the pain the blood-traitorous shit like you deserves – my master wanted you dead as soon as possible so that nothing will stand in his way when takes back what is rightfully his!" Finally lifting his curse, Crouch took a step forward, his wand now pointing at Draconica's heart. "Avada Ke-..."

Too bad for him, he got way too close to the lady Slytherin, who began recovering from the effects of the Cruciatus curse and promptly kicked him between his legs. And as Crouch's both hands instinctively went to protect his hurt family jewels, the blond girl rolled to the side, simultaneously kicking his peg leg, thus making the fake Moody to fall onto the floor face first.

"Sorry, but today is not my day to die, bastard!" The young beauty said as she sat up and reclaimed her wand, training it at the infiltrator. "Petrificus totalus!" The spell hit the fake Moody before he could throw any shield to protect himself. But even though she already had him completely paralyzed, Draconica didn't stop there: "Incarcerous!" The man's body was now also wrapped in the thick ropes tightly. She then added a few more spells and jinx that would ensure that the imposter will remain immobilized and unable to escape, before summoning his magical eye, his wand and the peg leg. "Elf!" The lady Slytherin then commanded – right now she didn't really care for their names... A house elf popped into the room.

"W-What can Mipsy do for you, mistress?" The small creature asked fearfully, obviously shaken by the sight of bound and paralyzed (fake) Moody.

"I want you to bring headmaster, madam Pomfrey and madam Bones here posthaste. Use force if necessary." Draconica ordered. The elf – Mipsy – nodded, before popping away as it went to carry out the order it had been given.

It was seven or so minutes later when Albus Dumbledore and Amelia Bones showed up, both quite out of breath as it was obvious that they had ran here all the way from the quidditch pitch. Following them there were professors McGonagall and Flitwick as well as a couple of aurors that had been accompanying their boss to the event.

"Merlin's beard! Ms. Slytherin, explain yourself!" The Transfiguration mistress said forcefully once she surveyed the room. And while she hadn't drawn her wand yet, unlike both headmaster Dumbledore and director Bones, it was clear that she was ready to battle.

"That man, whether he is the real one or an imposter." Draconica replied coldly as she pointed and unconscious and bound not-Moody. Then she pointed at the bruise forming on her neck – that was not something she could inflict upon herself... "Attacked and tried to kill me. If you check his wand, the last spell should be either an uncompleted killing curse, or the Cruciatus curse. Using either of those on another human guarantees a life sentence in Azkaban. Capital punishment is another possible." The head of DMLE nodded as she picked the wand that the not-Moody had been using.

"Poppy, can you check lady Slytherin?" She addressed to the Hogwarts' nurse. Then she turned her attention to the two aurors under her command. "If madam Pomfrey says the girl had been under the Cruciatus curse even for a second, I want this man... " She nodded towards the not-Moody. "In the Department's holding cells. I don't care if it is the real Alastor or Merlin himself, I will send any bastard that dares to use Unforgivables to the place they rightfully belong to." As an afterthought, she added: "And if he somehow escapes, I will have you take his place in Azkaban. So never take your eyes off him!" Upon receiving the rather fearful nods from her subordinates, the director of the DMLE turned her attention to the not-Moody's wand she was holding in her hands. "Prior Incantato!" And just like the young lady Slytherin had said, the last spell cast by that wand was the Cruciatus curse.

And just as madam Pomfrey confirmed that Draconica had indeed been subjected to the aforementioned Cruciatus curse for a number of seconds, the body of not-Moody began changing, soon turning into that of a man that was believed to have been dead for quite some time now...

"Merlin's pants, i-is that Bartemius Crouch Junoir?" More than one person present in the room asked simultaneously. Indeed, it was that man, a proud Death Eater who was responsible for quite a few crimes committed during the Voldemort's reign of terror a little over a decade ago...

~/ *** \~

Harry slowly drifted back to consciousness. He was tied to a cross-like tombstone in a way that made freeing himself via non-magical ways impossible. And with his wand taken from him, he couldn't really use any magic to that effect either.

In front of himself, the young Potter could see a large cauldron, big enough to fit an adult human easily, on a small fire with some sort of potion definitely being brewed inside. Peter Pettigrew – or at least the green-eyed teen assumed that man to be Pettigrew – was pottering around the cauldron. The man's baby-sized master was no where in sight, which, to be honest, was making Harry even more uneasy... Having apparently completed whatever task he had been doing until now, 'Wormtail'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 labeled 'Thomas Riddle' cracked, before a fine trickle of dust rose into the air at Wormtail's command and fell softly into the cauldron. This made something change about the potion in the cauldron, but from his position Harry couldn't confirm it visually... Meanwhile, Pettigrew continued, whimpering as drew a long silvery dagger from inside of his cloak: "Flesh... of the servant... w-willingly given... you will... revive... your master." He then stretched his right hand out in front of him allowing the young Potter to see that the hand with the missing a finger. Wormtail then gripped the dagger very tightly in his left hand and swung it upward. A loud scream pierced the night as something – a palm on one's hand – fell into the potion.

By now Harry had understood what was going on. Voldemort was attempting to revive himself. And given the two named ingredients to that mysterious potion in an overly-large cauldron, the green-eyed teen knew what was the last one: his blood – the blood of an enemy, taken by force. That also explained why he had been kidnapped via the portkey placed onto the Goblet of Fire. Why he wasn't abducted at any other time was something that Harry couldn't understand. But, then again, Voldemort was not quite sane, thus his mind worked rather differently from Harry's own.

Anyhow, since his blood would be taken next, the young lord Slytherin did his best to will himself into believing he was giving it away willingly. No, it wouldn't botch the ritual, but, hopefully, this would be enough to weaken the resurrected Voldemort a bit... While he was doing that, the green-eyed wizard didn't notice Wormtail approaching him till a dagger cut his bare left arm open.

"B-blood of the enemy... forcibly taken... you will... resurrect your foe." With those words the still-shaking man walked back to the cauldron and let the blood drip from the blade into the potion. For a few seconds nothing happened. Then a surge of white steam billowed thickly from the cauldron making it impossible to see anything... Or it was so until a dark outline of a man, tall and skeletally-thin, rose slowly from inside the cauldron.

"Robe me." said the high, cold voice. Lord Voldemort had returned.

That's all, folks!
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