Harry

The cup was a portkey.

This thought had barely occurred to him when his knees collided with something solid and he was sent sprawling forward. His hand let go of the Triwizard cup at last. Percy stared at him, blinking as though coming out of a trance.

"Where are we?"

Harry could only shake his head. Percy got up, pulled him to his feet and they looked around.

"No…" he breathed, "No, no, no… This is bad."

They were in a graveyard. A small, ivy-strangled church sheltered the crumbling headstones, the names long since rendered unreadable. In the distance, the silhouette of a fine old house jutted out from the horizon. A sliver of moon hung suspended in the pitch black sky, shrouding them in it's pale light.

"Have you been here before?" Harry asked.

Percy nodded, horror-struck, "In my dreams," he delved frantically into his pockets, "I've lost my sword. It'll take a few minutes to come back."

Harry clutched his wand, trying not think about how it was their only defence. He eyed the cup warily, "Is this part of the Task, do you think?"

"I don't know."

They were standing side-by-side now. So close, Harry could hear Percy's ragged breathing. His own heart was thumping loudly, da-dum… da-dum… He couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched.

"Someone's coming," Percy whispered tersely. And then Harry saw it:

Walking steadily between the graves, a figure was drawing nearer. A hooded cloak was pulled up over their head, hiding their face, and as the space between them closed, Harry saw it was cradling what looked like a baby in it's arms – or was it just a bundle of robes?

Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum.

The figure stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six-feet from them. Harry swallowed back his fear. It's part of the Task, he reminded himself, it's part of the Task…

Please let it be a part of the Task.

"Stay behind me," said Percy.

"But I've got-" Without warning, Harry's scar exploded with pain. He could barely stand, body racked with agony. His wand slipped from his fingers; his knees buckled; he was on the ground, his head about to split open…

Far away, above his head, a voice hissed, "Detain them."

The pain in Harry's scar reached such a pitch that he retched as he was pulled roughly to his feet. He opened his stinging eyes to find himself being dragged towards the marble headstone and he glimpsed the name upon it in the flickering wand light before he was forced around and slammed against it.

Tom Riddle.

"Harry!" A few feet away, the ground had swallowed Percy up to his waist. He struggled but his arms became tangled in the weeds which grew slowly around him, choking him.

The cloaked man was now conjuring tight cords around Harry, binding him to the headstone. He fought back, and the man hit him - hit him with a hand that had a finger missing. And suddenly Harry knew; the man was Wormtail.

"You!" he gasped.

But Wormtail didn't reply. With trembling fingers, he checked the tightness of the cords and once assured Harry was bound so tightly he couldn't move an inch, he drew a piece of black cloth from within his cloak and stuffed it into his mouth. Harry couldn't make a sound, couldn't move his head to see beyond what was right in front of him.

The weeds had grown over Percy's mouth now, muffling his yells. Thorns left blood trailing down his face and arms. Harry's wand lay on the ground in front of him. Some way beyond that, the Triwizard cup glittered innocently in the starlight. The bundle of robes Harry had thought a baby lay on the ground close by and it was stirring fretfully now. His scar seared painfully, watching it.

Breath wheezing, Wormtail pushed a large, stone cauldron to the base of the grave. Water sloshed over the sides as it reached it's final position. The thing in the robes was stirring more persistently now and Wormtail glanced over at it anxiously as he fussed around the base of the cauldron with a wand. Flames crackled into life beneath it and he jumped suddenly back, his hood falling down to reveal his pale face dripping with sweat.

Wormtail pulled open the robes on the ground and Harry and Percy both let out a strangled yell at the thing inside. Barely bigger than a baby, hairless and scaly-looking with long, feeble arms it raised to Wormtail, as though asking for help. Harry could see the revulsion in Wormtail's eyes as he carried the creature to the rim of the cauldron. The liquid inside was bubbling now and Harry saw the thing's evil, flat face illuminated in the fiery sparks dancing on it's surface before Wormtail dropped it and it disappeared beneath the surface with a hiss.

He met Percy's gaze and knew they were thinking the same thing; let it drown… please, let it drown…

Wormtail's voice shook as he raised his arms to the sky and intoned, "Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will revive your son."

The ground beneath Harry cracked and a stream of bone dust came flying out and into the cauldron, turning it a poisonous blue.

"F-flesh of the servant," Wormtail stuttered, "w-willingly given – you will- revive- your- master."

His hand seemed to spasm as he drew a wicked, silver dagger from within his robes and raised it above his head. Harry realised what was about to happen and squeezed his eyes shut, but he couldn't block out the sickening splash nor the agonised shrieks that pierced the night and went straight through him as though he, Harry, had been stabbed as well. The potion turned a burning red, it's hellish light blazing through his eyelids.

Whimpering, Wormtail continued. He was so close now that Harry could feel his anguished breath on his cheek, "Blood of the enemy… forcibly taken… you will… resurrect… your foe!"

Harry could do nothing but scream as Wormtail gouged the dagger into the crook of his right elbow. Percy yelled, lashing out against his bindings, as Wormtail held the knife, dripping in blood, over the cauldron. Both boys watched helplessly as a bead of crimson rolled down the blade, teetered on it's edge and dropped into the flaming liquid, turning it a blinding white.

His job done, Wormtail dropped to his knees, gasping and sobbing, cradling the bleeding stump of his hand. The cauldron raged with light, painful to look at, impossible to ignore. A surge of white steam obliterated everything in front of Harry, so he could no longer see Wormtail or Percy or anything but the vapor…

Then, with an icy surge of terror, he saw a shadow. Something – no, someone - was growing out of the cauldron. Tall and skeletally thin, with a high, thin voice that spoke with authority, "Robe me."

Wormtail scrambled to pick up the black robes from the floor and, one-handed, reached up and pulled them over his master's head.

And, as the steam cleared, Harry found himself staring into the evil, red eyes of the man who had haunted his nightmares for the last four years.

Lord Voldemort.

"Harry Potter…" His fingers, like large, pale spiders, reached out to touch Harry's face. He's back, is all he could think, Voldemort's back…

"Get away from him!"

Percy had freed himself from the ground. In one hand he held Riptide and in the other, he clutched Harry's wand with the air of someone who knew they were powerful but was yet to discover just how dangerous they were.

"Ah, Percy Jackson, we meet at last…" Voldemort's pale lips twisted in a grotesque smile, "Hello… grandson."

And this isn't even the climax yet! All will be explained next chapter... I hope you enjoyed this double-upload! Thanks to everyone for favouriting and following the story and for all your great reviews. I love your feedback!

Okurdek - sadly Percy doesn't have that much common sense! And it would be a pretty boring story if he got to the maze and said, "Nah, I'm not doing this." ;D Thanks for continuing to support the story!

vapourtrailreads - hopefully the suspense will only build from here! Enjoy!

EvilPieceOfSht - I'm more of a Percabeth/Solangelo person myself but I definitely thought Jiper was worth a mention. I don't know many rock songs, sorry, but I love Black Parade too and have definitely had it stuck in my head more than once!

Anonymous - thank you! :D

aRTsyisAwesome - I'm glad you have faith in my story-writing skills! I hope the next few chapters are "bang" enough for you! ;)

Make sure you let me know what you think by leaving a review! Have a great week everyone!

Lileaf, xoxo