UPDATE : The chap has now been updated by the great and magnificient Webstriker, he also told me that some of the characters reactions did not fit with them, so I changed a few lines. Nothing crazy, the chap is essentially the same.
Let's pretend I did not disappear for a month…
SORRYYYYYYYYY, I once again I have a good excuse, my friend took me to South Korea for a few weeks, I rested well enough and now, I'm back with the last chap of the first part of my fanfic.
This chap is still unedited, the edited version should come next week, and it will be done by the wonderful Webstriker!
Now on to the reviews:
CaskettFan5: Yeah lmao Harry is a kid, and Chaos, well I guess he just like to act like one. Yup Harry did not think for a single second that he would be kidnapped by Voldemort's minion. In his mind he would at best catch an impostor like Lockhart. He is a bit OC yeah, I wanted him to mature a little, plus seeing the twins I could imagine Ron sayin "uncle ron" since he's their brother after all. Everyone loves *sczay Daphne*! Thank you for the review!
Mark1: Well I'm sorry about the cliff… Sort of because yknow… I might have done it again… Sorry bout that and thank you for the review!
Hank1967: He is just very naïve, poor him… I enjoyed writing that part too, actually that sort of back and forth is the thing I prefer, it feel very natural. Dumbles is really having a hard time here… poor him too. Chaos does seem unconcerned about his fate, he's just like that I guess. Thank you for the review!
Skotos07: Thank you for the review mate!
92: Thank you, I hope you like that one too!
Home world security: Yeah well, about that … I hope you like cliffs… Thank you for the review!
And now, without further ado,
ENJOY!
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
Voldemort was a patient man. Since he was a kid, he learned to buy his time to come up with plans which were both flawless and efficient. For example, what he had in mind for Harry Potter was extremely simple. He sent a spy inside Hogwarts to make Potter participate in the Triwizard Tournament, and in the last task the latter would get to him easily with the Portkey. It left him the time to complete the potion, and made sure that the boy would not flee, since his magic was bound by the Goblet of Fire.
He knew that the Potter boy would not flee; he faced him three years ago and a mere tournament was not enough to scare him. However, better safe than sorry. Moreover, taking him at the last possible moment would make it impossible for anyone to come and save him, no one would have thought about him capturing their hero, as they call him. The plan was perfect.
That was what he had in mind, however he had now before his eyes, the fainted body of Harry Potter. His servant was kneeling next to the body, waiting for his Lord to give him the authorization to explain himself.
"Speak." A cold and dangerous voice resounded.
"I apologize master, something happened, and forced me to flee with the boy."
"Explain," Voldemort said curtly. "If I don't find it satisfactory…" He stopped himself, the threat in his voice enough.
"Thank you master. Earlier this day as I was just done drinking Polyjuice, I saw the boy appear in front of my door. He had no reason to do so, so I was on my guard. He came in and asked if I was alone, as if he knew about Mad Eye; he even sat on the suitcase where he was laying. I suspected something at that point, moreover he acted as if he was buying time, and when I told him to leave he confirmed my suspicions by asking me whether there was something inside the suitcase, plus the eye caught the headmaster on his way to my office."
"That's why I rushed things, Master. I did not care to be caught, but if I was, your plan would have been prevented. I did what I thought was the best at the time, master. I apologize once again."
If it was fifteen years ago, Lord Voldemort would have killed the man on the spot, and if he was having a good day, a mere Crucio session would have done the trick. However, he was not the same as he was, and his followers were not what they were before. At the moment his most trusted and useful man was Crouch, he had to endure it for now.
"As you know, I am a merciful lord, and your mistake shall be pardoned for now." Crouch bowed. "However, even my mercy has limits… Another mistake would breach this limit."
"Of course, master, thank you." He bowed even lower.
"Now, tie him in a room, and make sure he doesn't die."
"Yes, master."
"Make him sleep for today, I do not want any noise today, I need to think."
"Yes, master."
Crouch bowed once again, picked up the boy and took him away.
"Wormtail! My wand!"
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
"Are you sure about this?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"I don't understand, why now? He had multiple occasions to do it before, so why kidnap Potter now?"
"I do not think he has had a chance, but first I must check something." Dumbledore said as he walked out the office, leaving a dumbstruck Severus Snape behind him.
"Just like I thought." The old headmaster whispered to himself.
The Potion Master had come back to his senses and followed him in the room where the Triwizard Cup was stored. It had been a few minutes since Dumbledore started examining the Cup, and Severus's patience was running out.
"Headmaster, would you please be kind enough to explain what you're doing right now? I'm not proficient enough in Legilimency to know what's going on through your mind."
The white-bearded man redressed himself looking weary and sighed.
"This," he said as he pointed to the cup with his wand, "is a Portkey."
"It was designed so it would be activated on the third task day, by just tapping it with the caster's wand. The destination was already set, and I thought I could get it; however, it seems like I was a step behind."
"What do you mean?"
"It seems like Voldemort already took care of it by using the Fidelius Charm or an equivalent that I do not know."
"Is that even possible? There's no way he's already back, I would have felt it. And if he's not back, who could perform the charm that quickly?"
"That, I have no idea."
The two men stood like this for a few minutes in silence.
"I should pay Alastor a visit," Albus finally said, "It has been some time since I last saw him." He added grimly.
"How is he Poppy?" Dumbledore asked the matron in front of his old friend's bed.
"He should be okay, a little underfed and shocked, but nothing life threatening, he needs rest."
"Could I ask him a few questions?" He asked in a tone that did not leave place for a negative answer.
Poppy looked at him disapprovingly for a few seconds and finally nodded.
"I will be with the other patient." She walked towards the other bed.
"Whew, I thought she'd never leave." A gruff voice came from the retired Auror. "You have no idea how freaked out I was when I woke up and saw her, brought me back some bad memories—"
"Alastor." The white-bearded man stopped him. "We have an emergency."
Moody stopped in his tracks and his face became more serious.
"Your assailant was supposed to be dead in Azkaban, and now he most likely took Harry Potter to where his master is hiding."
"You still think he is not dead?"
"I am quite sure, actually, that he is not. Why else did Crouch Junior make young Harry participate in the Triwizard tournament and not directly kill him? Moreover, I know for certain that his mark is starting to awaken."
"Snape…" The old Auror voice was filled with spite and disgust. "I bet—"
"Once again Alastor, now is not the time. A student was kidnapped right under my nose, and we discovered an almost dead Crouch Senior in the vicinity of the Forbidden Forest, and last but not least, we found you, in the suitcase of a Death Eater."
A silence followed.
"… Right, what do you want to do?"
"For now, I want you to actually give lessons, and act as if nothing happened, we must not alert everyone, this could lead to panic or for some parents to learn about it and make them remember their former allegiance…"
"Albus, I'm all for it, but how do you intend to make a student's disappearance look like nothing?"
A sad smile grew on the face scarred by the time.
"Let me give you a short crash course about what you missed this year."
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"Are you sure about that?"
"Of course, I am! His bed is literally next to mine. If it was one day or two I'd get it, but he hasn't come back for a whole week now, without saying anything to anyone about his whereabouts. His map and cloak aren't there either. Something's up, I'm sure Professor Dumbledore knows something."
Ron, Hermione, and Daphne were in front of their headmaster's office, trying to make it open the way with every password they could think of. Fortunately for them, the gargoyle suddenly moved and a surprised Professor McGonagall appeared behiànd it .
"Oh, it's you… Ahem... May I know what you are doing in front of the headmaster's office? You should know he is a busy man."
"Professor it's important, we haven't seen Harry for a week now. We're worried!" Hermione said.
Professor McGonagall turned her head to the side, and her face scrunched with worry and something that looked like guilt.
"Of course, you can go. I am sure Professor Dumbledore will understand…"
"You know something, don't you?" Daphne asked suspiciously, her eyes so squinty that they looked closed.
The Transfiguration teacher sighed deeply and turned her face to look at them.
"Yes. Something happened. I have been asked to keep quiet so I will not tell you anything, but Professor Dumbledore might explain it to you, since you are his friends…"
The three students were left behind, scared from what they just heard. After a few seconds, the three of them rushed their way to their headmaster's office. Even Daphne who always looked calm and refined was running up the stairs like crazy.
When they arrived in front of the wooden door, they did not even have the time to knock that it had already opened. And for the first time in their life, they saw Professor Dumbledore like he was supposed to be: old and weary from time. His eyes did not twinkle as they usually did and his cheerfulness was nowhere to be seen.
He was sitting in a beautiful wooden chair and wore a grave expression on his face. His hands were clasped together, he looked deeply immersed in his thoughts but still managed to talk before one of the students could regain their composure.
"I am guessing you are not here to talk about your O.W.L.S.?"
Just like his expression, his voice was grim and weary. Long gone were the cheeriness and craziness that he always carried no matter the situation. The two girls and Ron did not know what it was about yet, but it seemed really bad.
"Professor, we wanted to know if something happened to Harry." Ron was the first to answer him. "Well, more like what happened to him. Since Professor McGonagall just told us that something did happen."
"I see…" The old man rose from his seat and stood behind it, his hands clenched on its back. "Indeed. Something happened. Something terrible—"
"Is that Harry's map?" Ron interrupted his headmaster, his finger pointing at the old piece of parchment.
"Ron! Don't interrupt Professor Dumbledore," Hermione called him out.
"Yes, it is." Dumbledore still answered his question calmly. "As I was saying, something terrible happened last week."
"I shall explain it to you, but I need the three of you to keep it a secret for now. Otherwise it could cause some… issues."
The students nodded gravely.
"It all started when Dobby came to see me with this map." He pointed his wand towards the Marauder's map. "He told me that Mister Potter had told me to look at one name on it, an intriguing name: Bartemius Crouch."
"I rushed to where the map pointed and found our Triwizard judge, severely injured and disoriented. I did not want to lose a second and asked Dobby to bring him to the infirmary. The loyal elf tried to tell me something, but I thought the safety of Mister Crouch was too important to delay so I did not listen to him. How I regret it…" He interrupted himself, and the air became heavier.
"What happened Professor?" Daphne managed to ask quietly.
"I tried to understand what happened to Mister Crouch because it appeared that he was hit with Unforgivable Curses." The three teenagers had a solemn look on their faces, knowing from experience that it was a serious matter. "However, all he could talk about was his son, and the fact that the latter was a horrible person."
They all knew that he threw his son in prison and left him to die, so they did not ask any questions about it.
"Finally, he fainted from exhaustion, and when I wanted to come back to my office to rest, Dobby quite aggressively refused to let me do so. Telling me that Harry Potter told me to join him right after. Dobby pointed me to the location on the map, and it was at that moment that I realized…"
"The name next to Harry's was Bartemius Crouch—"
"What?!"
"How?"
"Impossible…"
The three of them exclaimed at the same time.
"You three might not know it, but the son of Mister Crouch is called Bartemius Crouch Junior—"
"Is? What do you mean 'is'? Sirius told us he was dead!" It was now Hermione who interrupted the headmaster. She was so terrified by what she was hearing that she did not even realize that someone was not aware that Sirius was innocent. And that someone heard it clearly and decided to store it in her mind for now since Harry's situation was much more important.
"That is what everyone thought until that day. I rushed towards the Defence Against Dark Arts classroom, but when I got there, the only thing I found was a suitcase where Professor Moody was imprisoned and a flask of Polyjuice."
Different expressions passed through the young faces, such as disgust, fear, anger and even despair. But before they could say anything, Dumbledore raised his hands.
"The situation is critical right now. I have been looking for a way to locate Harry, but for now it was in vain."
"Locate? That means you're sure he's alive. How?" Hermione asked.
"Yes," He took one of his numerous artefacts, it was a tiny sphere which emanated a red and shiny light. "This would have broken in the… worst case. And we also found that a part of the Triwizard third task was modified to a Portkey, it made me realize that Crouch Junior did not want to kill Harry, or at least not now. I just made him accelerate their plans; I still believe Harry is safe until the day of the third Task."
"Their plan?" Daphne asked. "He's not alone?"
Dumbledore did not answer directly, he started scrutinizing each one of them. Looking right into their eyes, as if he was trying to enter their souls.
"It is my guess that Voldemort is the mastermind behind all of it." The three of them shivered at the name. "That is part of the reason I believe Crouch Junior did not kill Harry; Lord Voldemort needs him. My hypothesis is that he needs him to somehow come back—"
"Excuse me Professor?" A pale looking Daphne asked. "You-Know-Who? That's not possible, he's dead. Harry killed him!" She laughed nervously and looked to her friends to reassure herself.
Hermione and Ron looked at each other with nothing less than panic on their faces, and at that moment Daphne realized it was not a joke, nor a prank that they all planned with the professors to make a fool of her.
"But how… That's impossible right?"
"My goal here is not to convince you, so I will spare us the effort. However, the fact that Harry Potter was kidnaped is real. Now if you could regain your dormitories."
"And do not forget to keep it secret, as any disclosure could cause harm to Harry."
They were all walking towards the exit when Daphne suddenly turned in the direction of their director.
"Professor," she started, "Is Harry still magically bound by the Goblet of Fire?"
Understanding started filling the faces of her two companions.
"Unfortunately, yes."
"So, in the best case, he will soon lose his magic while being held captive by a crazy Death Eater?"
"Yes."
"And what exactly are you doing to prevent that?" Everyone who knew Daphne, could see she was fuming. Her voice was blank, but at every word she uttered, she walked one more step. At the end of her sentence, she was just in front of the headmaster's desk.
"I can assure you, Miss Greengrass, that every professor in this castle, me included, is doing their utmost best to find a way to nullify this magic binding contract, and at the same time, as I mentioned before, locate him."
"From the same teaching staff in which the Death Eater was peacefully ruining a student's life?"
"You can rest assured that I took precautions against such a situation, and that every professor has my utmost confidence."
"We want to be updated on every finding you might have about Harry, or else I might accidently let something slip to our dear friend Rita Skeeter."
Without waiting for an answer, she motioned her friends to follow her, and she left the office.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
Harry was nearly ready. He had done everything Chaos told him to do. The daily torture session had slowed his progress at first but soon stopped being a daily occurrence. It seemed that his captivator really did need him alive and did not want to make a mistake by accidently killing him by a Crucio overdose. In short, Chaos's plan had actually worked.
Flashback
"Let me sum it up. You're telling me you can make sure that I don't wake up for some more time so I can practice in secret?"
"Yup."
Harry looked at Chaos who was smiling brightly, with an expression of total distrust on his face.
"What's the catch?"
"Technically, there isn't." Another stare from Harry. "Okay, okay, you might get Crucio-ed one or two more times than you would've if you were awake."
Harry's blood froze. He had forgotten the fact that they could in fact torture him.
"C'mon don't be such a wuss." Chaos kept going. "You would have been Crucio-ed whatever state you are. They will just try to wake you up with it, no big deal."
"And you never know, maybe you won't feel anything while asleep."
"Will I really not feel it?"
"Of course, you will, but maybe the caster is even more of a wuss than you and won't cast it properly."
"I can't see why I would do that, not at all."
"Did your kidnapping make you lose the little part of your brain you had left?"
"Oh, shut up."
"How can I teach you while you're awake? Now that—"
"You can teach?!" Harry made an exaggerated shocked expression.
"Nevermind, I'll just take a nap." Chaos started waving his hand and the dream started fading.
"It was a joke! C'mon don't leave!"
"As I was saying, now that you finally filled your core, we can advance to the next step—"
"Wandless magic?" Harry excitedly said.
"No way, brat, you'll figure that on your own. And if you interrupt me once again I'll make sure you feel those Crucio, even more than if you were awake."
Harry gulped audibly.
"Good," He smiled deviously. "Now where was I? Ah, right, the next step. It consists of forcefully breaking the magical bind you have with the Goblet of Fire. We don't want you to lose your magic, that works for neither of us."
Harry almost forgot about it, and the fact that Chaos made him remember by telling him he had a solution about it meant less weight he had to shoulder. He was really grateful about that.
"You can talk now."
He hesitated, he could never tell if Chaos was serious or not, but finally he tried his luck.
"What's the step after?"
Chaos had a huge smile on his face.
"That my friend, is to make sure you escape that shitty old house you're in and go break one of the stupid stones I told you about."
"Is it far from here?"
"Yup."
"Then, will you teach me how to make a Portkey?" Harry was excited beyond measure. Even though it was not his favourite means of travel, he could not deny the usefulness of such a trick.
"Well, you could say that I guess…"
Chaos clapped his hands together.
"Now, do exactly what I said. You don't want that dusty Goblet to steal your power, right? It should not take more than a day."
End of Flashback
"You know, after they told me that my magic was bound by the Goblet, I thought it was something ineluctable, the way everyone reacted to it also pointed the same way. I never once thought it would have been this simple." Harry said. "Hell, I could have done it before if only you told me! It would have avoided a dragon and that creature whose name is too hard to remember."
"Nah, you grow better under pressure." Chaos absentmindedly answered him.
Harry could not understand what his mentor was doing, it was as if he was drawing something on the darkness around them.
"Can't you just make, whatever this is, appear magically, like you always do?"
He did not get his answer at first as Chaos was too focussed on his weird drawing.
"Nope, not that one, it's something I'm printing inside your mind." The figure finally said. "Otherwise it could mess your mind up, and we don't want that, right?"
"Right." After a second, Harry realized what he just heard. "Wait a second, what do you mean printing it inside my mind? What is it supposed to be?"
"Don't be such a wuss, you've survived worse." Harry shivered at the mention of his torture sessions. "It's just something you'll need to escape."
"Are those runes?" Harry remembered some runes books Hermione used to carry. That was one of the worst things about being kidnapped; loneliness. Even when he avoided his friends, he still had to sleep in his dorms, and knew he could go and meet them whenever he wanted, that attenuated the loneliness. Now this was not possible, and that worsened it. Chaos was here but it was quite the same. It felt more like the time he spent on his cupboard years ago.
"Sort of." Chaos answered curtly.
"Care to explain?"
"No." Harry sighed, he knew it would happen, Chaos was such a pain. "Oh, I almost forgot. It's time for you to wake up, or else he might kill you." Chaos waved his hand.
"What?!" Harry screamed as his surroundings started to fade.
"This diagram will appear forcefully in your mind at some point, and when it does I want you to draw it somewhere, anywhere, with whatever you find, be it blood or just dust. After that just forcefully push your Magic inside the lines, the more the better."
"Good luck."
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
"Why isn't he waking up?" Harry just woke up and almost exploded in anger when he heard that trembling voice of Pettigrew. "Did you kill him?"
"Are you even more stupid than you look? Didn't you see him react at Crucio? "
"Still, he needs to wake up, Master said it will only work when we gather his blood forcefully. It can't work if he's asleep!"
Harry remembered what Chaos said about that particular situation. He just had to not try anything stupid.
"Master is now ready; how do we explain his state to him?" Harry really wanted to strangle that traitor but restrained himself.
"Crucio."
Harry felt the same pain he had to endure the previous days, but it did not mean he had adjusted to it. The pain was as excruciating as the first time. It felt like each part of his skin was now pierced by a burning needle. The pain was so strong that he started having spasms and screaming as hard as his throat permitted.
"Ah, finally." A dangerous voice said as the pain dimmed. "You can't fool me boy, you're a really bad actor."
Harry opened his eyes and was met by the disgusting traitor, as dirty as the day he first met him. The second man, Harry, had never seen him in his entire life, but he supposed he was the Bartemius Crouch he had seen on the map, the one who kidnapped him. The man had pale and slightly freckled skin, his face was lined, he had some scars here and there, but nothing compared to his D.A.D.A. teacher though.
"I don't know what sort of trick you pulled to stay asleep for all that time, but it doesn't matter since your life will end today, by my master's own hands." He smiled and his face looked straight up from a nightmare.
Before Harry could say anything, a movement caught his eyes and he felt his body being restrained by invisible ropes, while his mouth was now impossible to open. It seemed that Pettigrew just threw him a spell judging by the wand he now had in his hand.
The Crouch man sharply turned his head towards the rat and glared at him.
"M…Ma…Master is wai…w…waiting."
Pathetic. Harry thought as he looked at the man with nothing more than disgust.
Without further word, the impostor whipped his wand and Harry started to levitate behind him. Harry tried to look around him, and strangely his surroundings felt familiar to him. He thought for a long time and only remembered when they were actually out in what seemed to be a graveyard.
It was the same house he had dreamed about the night he met Chaos, where he heard Voldemort and Pettigrew.
Crouch moved him against a grave and turned to where a huge cauldron was fuming. Harry had never seen one this big, it could roughly take an adult body in. This made him come to a realization, maybe it was a cauldron for a man's body, for Voldemort's body. If he could open his mouth, Harry would have puked, it seemed that today was the day. He would assist at the resurrection of his parent's murderer, without being able to do a single thing about it. Even with the assurance of escaping from Chaos, Harry was absolutely terrified by what was happening before his eyes. He still had no diagram in his mind, and even if he did, he was being restrained so he could not even move one hand.
When he thought that nothing else could disgust him, Pettigrew came next to the cauldron, carrying something that looked like a baby in his arms, and without further ado, dropped it inside the fuming cauldron.
It's starting.
He did not know why, but he knew the process just started, but still had the hope that that thing would just drown or end up being burned to death. Because if it came out, it could only be one thing, and Harry did not want that.
Now Pettigrew started taking what seemed to be bones and dropped them into the mixture, rambling something that Harry's mind, who was focussed on finding a way to break his restraints, did not register. Something broke his focus though; Pettigrew chopped his hand just above the cauldron and let it drop inside of it.
After that, he saw Pettigrew walking towards him, a silver dagger in his remaining hand. Harry was absolutely terrified; his mind was a mess as he could only look helplessly at the rat as he put the dagger inside the crook of his right arm. The pain made him squint, and he felt something hot seeping down his arms; his blood was flooding profusely, and Peter Pettigrew took a vial out of his pocket, after dropping the dagger, and filled it with Harry's blood.
As Pettigrew turned to add the blood into the mixture, Harry felt something he rarely did. He was angry. Angry at Pettigrew for what he just did, angry at Crouch for kidnaping and torturing him, but above all, he was angry at himself, for being so weak that he could not even break restraints that were applied by the rat. It hurt his pride, and he felt something rise in his body, and he knew what it was. His magic seemed as angry as he was. It went through his body and filled him with warmth and a sense of power. Harry quickly composed himself before another "Snape incident" happened once again. He still had Chaos warnings in his mind, the one about the anger, but also about his current situation, he had to wait for the diagram.
All of a sudden everything was clear in his head; he fuelled his magic across his body and managed to feel the foreign magic that was restraining him. He wanted to be freed, and so his magic did that. He could not tell how he did it, but he was now free. He was feeling euphoric but managed to regain his composure, so no one would notice him.
C'mon Chaos, the diagram please!
As he was pleading in his mind, the cauldron in front of him started emitting thick white vapor in the air. The vapor was so thick that he could not even see Wormtail or Crouch.
Maybe they failed, maybe something went wrong.
Harry's mind filled with theories that gave him hope, however it was very short. From the thick white vapor Harry could distinguish the outline of a tall and skinny man slowly rising out of the cauldron. Harry's hair was now all standing straight on his body, his mind was fuzzy, but he still managed to hear an icy voice talking.
"Robe me."
Pettigrew rushed at the man's side and managed to robe him single-handedly. The latter stepped out of the cauldron, staring at Harr who could not look anywhere else, his eyes were glued by the terror as the realization hit his mind.
Lord Voldemort had risen again.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
Albus Dumbledore was restless, walking back and forth in his office. His familiar looked at him, his head tilted, concerned about his old friend. It was not everyday anyone could see Albus in this state. His eyes were haggard, and he seemed erratic, as if the rumour about him being crazy was true.
His state could easily be explained by an artifact present in his office, the Goblet of Fire. At first he was trying to locate Harry Potter by following the trail of magic left by the bound between it and the young Gryffindor. Everything went smoothly until he hit a wall, the trail had been severed by what seemed to be a Fidelius charm, or one similar. As he already knew about it, Albus tried to pinpoint a general area where he could focus his search, using all the means at his disposal. However, when he was at the verge of finding something, the trail suddenly disappeared, as if he was never here. Albus knew what it meant; Harry Potter was not bound by the Goblet of Fire.
Since then, Albus had theorized about what happened. He came up with two conclusions that most likely happened. Either Lord Voldemort thought that the bound was something that would be hindering him and decided to sever it, by some obscure means that even Dumbledore did not know. Or, the less likely conclusion, Harry did it himself. That was the hope Dumbledore bore, it would still mean that Harry would not lose his magic, but also that he was not totally helpless. He was trying to fight, he did not give up, even in the custody of people whose only wish was his death.
The reason the headmaster knew his student was still alive was thanks to one item on his desk, the shiny little sphere was still intact.
There was another reason for his actual state, it was the date; the 24th of June. If his theory was accurate, today was the last day Harry would be 'safe'. Whatever Voldemort did plan, it would take place today. He thought about it a lot and did even more research to finally find something about that plan. Even four years ago, Voldemort's initial plan was not to harm Harry Potter, it was only to get his hands on the Stone and get a new body. He deduced that it would be the same now, that is why he researched about a way to get a new body and found a potion.
It was the regeneration potion, an old and dark one that could regenerate a body as long as the person was not dead. It needed three principal ingredients, the bones of the father unknowingly given, the flesh of the servant willingly given, and the blood of his enemy forcibly taken. Dumbledore knew that Voldemort's ego would not allow him to take any other blood than the one that did vanquish him once before, it would even give him an invulnerability to Lily Potter's last protection. Then, Harry's utility would vanish, and it would be the time for Voldemort to kill him.
That was the reason for his incessant and erratic walk around his office.
However, he still had to attend the third task no matter what, he was a judge after all. This reminded him of the plan they concocted so no one else would learn about Harry's disappearance. Alastor was to take Polyjuice and take his place, fortunately, they could find some of his hair in his dorms and tested it before. He was to take his place, but not win, nor knock any participants out.
Dumbledore suddenly stopped walking, and with a flick of his hand cleaned up himself to look presentable and deeply sighed.
"Now the only thing left is hope…"
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Ron was not feeling good, not at all. Something felt weird, as if something really bad would happen. He knew that hunch did not come from nowhere, because today was the day. The third task would happen today with a fake Harry Potter, and nearly no one who knew about it.
After their meeting with the headmaster, Hermione and him were led by their Slytherin friend in an empty classroom that she locked immediately and forced them to answer her questions. She wanted to know the real story behind everything Harry had ever told her, about his first year, the Basilisk and even Sirius Black.
Ron, who knew better than to try and argue with her, just made himself as small as he could and let his bushy haired friend try. And as expected, by the time they got out, Daphne knew everything she wanted to know, and had resolved herself to go and see Sirius to tell him about Harry.
They decided to join him in his cave, the day after by slipping out of Hogwarts. The meeting did not go well at all, it went badly. At first Sirius refused to change into his human form and looked very menacing, but finally did it when they mentioned Harry, he still remained wary of the Slytherin girl though.
When he heard about his godson, Sirius tried to run towards the castle. Thankfully Daphne threw him a binding spell. He did everything he could to try and escape but was in a weak state, so it was useless. Daphne then somehow managed to make him reconsider his decision to rush into the castle. She lectured him for a good ten minutes about him being a bad parent figure that was trying to get himself imprisoned again, before he gave up. Ron found her terrifying, and he totally understood why Harry always tried to be on her good side. Thinking about him made Ron's heart ache. An empty feeling filled his body, Harry, his best friend got kidnapped and would most likely lose his life.
According to Dumbledore, today was the last day of Harry being safe, and the headmaster still had no idea on where to find him.
Ron decided to take a walk alone before the third task. Each one of the hallways he passed through brought another memory with his best friend. He stopped himself near the Quidditch pitch, which was now looking like a maze, looked in the air and could almost see Harry fly on his Firebolt, laughing with a Snitch in his hand.
The memories were even more hurtful since it may be the last thing Ron would get from his best friend. This thought made his eyes burn as a few tears rolled down his cheek.
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Harry was utterly petrified, he did not say anything while a very alive Voldemort was rambling about his family, he did not even flinch when his scar was literally burning his forehead, he did not spare a glance to the multiple hooded wizards appearing in the graveyard. His eyes were fixated on the creature in front of him, he refused to believe he had resurrected even though it happened right in front of him, and he even participated in the process.
And then, pain. Pain beyond anything he had felt in his life, and it came from his archnemesis's wand. Voldemort casted a Crucio and all Harry could do was scream and wriggle in agony. He wanted it to stop, anything would do, even dying…
And then, nothing. The curse was lifted, and Voldemort ramblings resumed for a little while before he ordered Wormtail to untie him and to give him back his wand. But before the latter could take another step, he was sent flying against a grave and the wand landed in Harry's hand.
Every pair of eyes were now focused on him, and even Voldemort lifted an eyebrow to the demonstration, and then he smiled deviously.
"It will make our duel even more… interesting." He said. "Now, bow, bow to death, Harry..."
Harry might have been scared to death, but there is one thing he was not going to do, and it was to bow to his parents' murderer. The Death Eaters were all laughing around him, and he was not going to entertain even more.
"I said, bow." Voldemort repeated with a wave of his wand.
Harry felt a weight at the top of his head, he resisted for a while, until the laughter died down. And then Voldemort flicked his wand again and Harry fell face on the ground, and the laughter resumed.
Harry could have resisted a little more, but something happened and perturbed him. At the same time Voldemort flicked his wand, Harry saw something appear inside his mind. The diagram finally appeared, it meant that he could escape. Even though his nose was bleeding, Harry had a smile on his face.
Fortunately, the drawing was not something too hard to draw, not like the one Chaos had at first. It seemed that he understood the severity of the situation and made it simpler.
"And now, we duel." He heard Voldemort say.
Before he could just think about drawing the diagram on the ground, pain came again. He was hit by yet another Crucio. He felt as if every inch of his skin was being pierced by a burning needle without the pain ever fading away.
"A little pause Harry, as you can see I'm magnanimous. I know it hurts; you don't want to feel it again right?"
Harry did not answer, he was trembling like a leaf. His intact arm was still on the ground, focused on their work, getting the diagram done as soon as possible without being noticed.
"Imperio!"
Say no, just say it. Said Voldemort's voice in his head.
I won't.
Just answer no…
"I WON'T!"
A dead silence fell in the graveyard, no more laughter, no more curses thrown. Voldemort looked at Harry curiously.
"You won't?" Voldemort said dangerously. "Didn't your parents teach you obedience?"
A few laughs.
Done! Now I just have to infuse magic into it.
"What are you—" Voldemort seemed to have caught on and quickly raised his wand.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry, who was still infusing his magic, looked helplessly at the green light coming at him. Right when he thought he would die, something incredible happened. His wand shot up from his wand and threw a red light towards the green one. A thread grew from his wand and flew all the way to Voldemort's, the both of them starting to rise in the air. The Death Eaters started shouting and asking Voldemort for instruction, but he told them to not meddle.
Harry was still infusing his magic into the diagram even though he was not touching it. Something almost broke his focus, he heard a melody, and weirdly enough it seemed that it wanted him to keep the thread intact for now. He wanted to shout at it that he had nothing to do with it but dared not talk, fearing it would mess something up.
Harry had seen his share of impossible things, but seeing ghosts shot out of his wand was definitely not on the list before today. He did not recognize any of the two. It was an old man and a middle-aged woman; they encouraged him, telling him not to give up. But Harry's only problem was the freaking diagram, he had sent a fair lot of magic inside of it but nothing happened yet, he was starting to lose hope.
"Your wand will not resist much more, after that we'll linger for a moment, it should be enough for you to put your remaining magic inside it." A redhead woman appeared, and he recognised her instantly from the pictures he had in his trunk back at Hogwarts, Lily Potter. Harry almost lost all his focus when he saw her, not understanding what was happening at all.
"Focus, you'll only have one chance." Another voice said. Again, another face he knew, it was the spitting image of himself, James Potter.
Harry decided to listen to them and put all the magic he could inside the diagram.
Suddenly a phoenix song resonated in the air, it was tearing and almost violent, not something Harry had ever heard Fawkes do. Harry felt a pang of sadness filling his body as he heard what was probably his wand's requiem.
"Now!"
He heard his wand snap but Harry had no time to think anymore. When the last drop of his magic was drained, he felt a tug on his stomach and his body felt like he was moving on his own, just like when he used Polyjuice back then, just a tad more painful and virulent. And then nothing besides absolute darkness.
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Ron felt disgusted at the sight of the Polyjuiced Harry Potter. He could not endure it anymore and decided to leave before the task ended. When he was wandering, he stumbled near a conversation between Snape and Professor Dumbledore. He decided to listen without being noticed, being the brother of the twins greatly helped at being sneaky, Harry adventures did too.
"Go, make sure Harry is safe, and that your loyalty is not doubted." The old main said. "I fear dark times will fall upon us again soon, now that he is back…"
Snape had his arm extended and the Mark was revealed to Dumbledore and quickly rolled his sleeves down as he nodded.
"You should be able to apparate a few minutes from here." Dumbledore pointed to the Forbidden Forest, and then he left.
Snape stood in place for a few minutes before sighing deeply and started walking towards the Forbidden Forest. Ron quietly followed him, exhilarated about what he just heard, he was finally going to see Harry! He was so excited that his mind did not register anything else, not even the fact that professor Dumbledore only said to make sure that Harry was safe, not to save him.
He almost got caught a few times, but managed to stay out of view, and when Snape was about to apparate, Ron jumped on him, and they were gone.
"You stupid monkey." Snape and Ron fortunately arrived without any injuries. "Do you have a death wish?" His voice was icy, but Ron could sense a tint of fear within it, and before he could do anything, Professor Snape whipped his wand and body-bond Ron and cursed his mouth so no sound could come from it.
"Wait for me here, we'll talk about it back in Hogwarts."
"Will you really?" A deadly voice came from behind them. "What in the world gives you the hope that I won't kill you right here, Severus?"
"Master—"
"I am not in a good mood, you see." Voldemort's face appeared in Ron's field of view, and the only word he could describe him with was; terrifying. His pale skin, the lack of nose, and his red eyes were helping a lot. "Maybe you could lift my spirits by killing that spare you got behind you, it should be enough for me to at least listen to what you have to say for yourself."
"Master—"
"Do not make the mistake to anger me even more, Severus. I am merciful, but the fact that the Potter boy managed to escape, really pushed my limits."
Ron smiled, tears in his eyes. He just heard that his best friend was alive, he managed to escape this madman. However, he will not be that lucky, it seemed that it was hard surviving a dangerous adventure without his best friend. His tears flowed silently on his cheeks, mixing happiness coming from his best friend's escape and resolve in front of an evident death.
He would never nag at Ginny again, never be mad at the twins, never be annoyed by Percy, never be in awe while listening to Charlie dragon story, never ask advice to Bill. He would never see his father play with muggle things, nor would he ever hear his mother nagging at him for not eating properly or for sleeping in or for annoying his little sister. This realization hit him hard, and the tears rolled down even harder.
I am going to die! I don't want to, I'm fifteen, why would I die?
"Kill him!"
Snape turned around to face him and mouthed something he could not understand with this many tears in his eyes. He took his wand out and whipped it towards him.
"Avada Kedavra."
The body of a fifteen year old dropped dead in the graveyard of Little Hangleton.
THE END (of the first part, the sequel is already being posted on my profile.)
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ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND THAT'S IT FOR THE FIRST PART OF MY FANFIC!
I hope you liked the entire work; I will now be editing the first chaps since they were really not well written at all.
Since I took a big vacation and left y'all for so much time, the pause I was going to do after this chapter will be shortened to maximum 3 weeks, and then I will be back for the second part!
I really wanted to thank everyone who read and appreciated my story, it really helped me to get motivation and see it until the end. I will NOT give up on this story and be back real soon!
! ! ! ! ! ! I had the idea of opening a discord server, but I'm not good with it, so I can't do it alone. If someone is willing to help me with it, just send me a private message or even a review and we could talk about it and set it up. The server would principally be used to update you on my advancement with the writing, but also talk about the story in itself or even other fanfics.
Once again, thank you for your support!
Okaayy so I think that's all I had to say for today, see you soon!
And don't forget to
REVIEW!